Note 9 — Philippine Ships and Shipbuilding

There is another wood called dongon,9 which is very strong, and of a yellowish color. From it are Page 164made stringer-plates, chocks of the bowsprit, coamings of the hatchways, strakes and stanchions for the decks. If all these woods are cut at the conjunction and decrease of the moon, and seasoned, as above stated, for one year, the ship will last much longer; for if they are cut and not seasoned, one must tear up the decks every two years and put down new ones, for they are rotten. Likewise the planks along the sides must be changed, with the exception of the futtock-timbers and top-timbers made of the wood maria; for that wood, although cut and not seasoned, never rots, because it is always durable, in one way, without rotting.