Pigs.

Statistics of Live Stock.

crossing with merino rams, although without much success, except at Saidapet. Pigs of great size and most repulsive appearance are everywhere reared, but are eaten only by the lowest of out-castes.

The table on the opposite page summarizes the information collected regarding live stock in those parts of India where the statistics can be obtained with some approximation to accuracy. But they must be regarded as intelligent estimates rather than as verified returns.

Forests.

Destruction of jungle.

ment,

The forests of India are beginning to receive their proper share of attention, both as a source of natural wealth and as a department of the administration. Up to about twentyfive years ago, the destruction of forests by timber-cutters, by charcoal-burners, and above all, by nomadic cultivation, was allowed to go on everywhere unchecked. The extension of tillage was considered as the chief care of Government, and no regard was paid to the improvident waste of jungle on all sides. But as the pressure of population on the soil became more dense, and the construction of railways increased the demand for fuel, the question of forest conservation forced itself into notice. It was recognised that the inheritance of future generations was being recklessly sacrificed. The importance of forests, as affecting the general meteorology of a country, was also being taught by bitter experience in Europe. On many grounds, therefore, it became necessary to preserve what remained of the forests in India, and to repair the mischief of previous neglect, even at considerable expense.

In 1844 and 1847, the subject was actively taken up by the Growth of Governments of Bombay and Madras. In 1864, Dr. Brandis the Forest was appointed Inspector-General of Forests to the Government Departof India; and in the following year the first Forest Act passed 1844-67. the Legislature (No. VII. of 1865). The regular training of candidates for the Forest Department in the schools of France and Germany dates from 1867. In the interval which has since elapsed, sound principles of forest administration have been laid down and gradually enforced. Indiscriminate timbercutting has been prohibited; the burning of the jungle by the hill tribes has been confined within bounds; large areas have been surveyed and demarcated; plantations have been laid out; and forest conservation has become a reality in India. From a botanical point of view, the forests may be divided [Sentence continued on page 524.

Indian timbertrees.

Teak.

Sál.

South Indian forests.

Sentence continued from p. 522.]

into several distinct classes, determined by varying conditions of soil, climate, and rainfall. The king of Indian forest trees is the teak (Tectona grandis), which rivals the British oak as material for ship-building. The home of the teak is in the Bombay Gháts, Kánara, Cochin, Travancore, and the Burmese peninsula, where it flourishes under an excessive rainfall. Second to teak is the sál (Shorea robusta), which is indigenous along the lower slopes of the Himalayas from the Sutlej basin east to Assam, among the hills of Central India, and in the Eastern Ghats down to the Godávarí river. On the Himálayas of North-Western India, the distinguishing timber-tree is Deodára. the deodára (Cedrus Deodara); while on the North-Eastern Himalayan frontier its place is occupied by Pinus Kasya and other trees, such as oak and chestnut, of a temperate zone. These noble trees supply the most valuable timber, and form the chief care of the Forest Department. But they are only the aristocracy of countless species, yielding timber, firewood, and other products of value. In the south of the peninsula, the mountain range of the Western Ghats, from Travancore northwards into Kánara, is clothed with an inexhaustible wealth of still virgin forest. Here there are three The three separate vegetations. (1) An evergreen belt on the seaward face of the mountains, where grow the stately pún (Calophyllum inophyllum), valuable as spars for ships, the anjalli or wild jack (Artocarpus hirsuta), and a variety of ebony (Diospyros Ebenum). (2) A belt of mixed forest, varying from 10 to 40 miles in width, which yields teak, blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia), and Lagerstroemia microcarpa, and here and there continuous avenues of lofty bamboos. (3) A dry belt, extending over the central plateau, in which the vegetation declines in size and abundance. The precious sandal-wood (Santalum album), limited almost entirely to Mysore and Kánara, thrives best on a stony soil, with a light rainfall. In the Bombay Presidency, the chief forest areas, excluding Kánara, are to be found in the mountainous extension of the Western Ghats, known as the Sahyadri range, and in the delta of the Indus in the outlying Province of Sind.

forest.

belts.

Sandaltree.

Sind forests.

The Sind river-valley forests present many peculiar features. They are locally reported to have been formed as game preserves by the Mírs or Musalmán rulers, and are divided into convenient blocks or belás, fringing the entire course of the Indus. Being absolute State property, their management is embarrassed by no difficulties, excepting those caused by

INDIAN FOREST AREAS.

525

the uncontrollable floods of the river. They furnish abundant firewood, but little timber of value, their chief produce being labúl (Acacia arabica), bahán (Populus euphratica), and tamarisk (Tamarix dioica). In the Punjab, the principal forests of Punjab deodára (Cedrus Deodara) lie beyond the British frontier, in forests. the Himalayan valleys of the great rivers; but many of them have been leased from the bordering States, in order to secure a supply of firewood and railway sleepers. On the Punjab plains, the only woods are those growing on the rákhs or upland plateaux which rise between the converging river basins. The chief trees found here are varieties of Prosopis, Capparis, and Salvadora; but the Forest Department is now laying out more valuable plantations of sissu (Dalbergia Sissoo), baer (Zizyphus jujuba), and kikar.

The North-Western Provinces present the Himálayan type Forests of N.-W. of forest in Kumaun and Garhwal, where the characteristic Provinces, trees are the chil (Pinus excelsa) and chir (Pinus longifolia), with but little deodára. Farther west occurs a forest-belt of sál, which may be said to form the continuous boundary between Nepál and British territory. Owing to the facility of water communication and the neighbourhood of the great cities. of Hindustan, these sál forests have long ago been stripped of their valuable timber, and are but slowly recovering under the care of the Forest Department. Oudh and Northern Bengal of Oudh continue the general features of the North-Western Provinces ; but the hill station of Dárjiling is surrounded by a flora of the temperate zone.

and N.

Bengal.

forests.

Calcutta has, from its foundation, drawn its supply of firewood from the inexhaustible jungles of the SUNDARBANS, Sundarban which have recently been placed under forest conservancy rules. This tract, extending over 5000 square miles, is a dismal swamp, half land, half sea or fresh water, overgrown by an almost impenetrable jungle of timber-trees and underwood. The most valued wood is the sundári (Heretiera littoralis), which is said to give its name to the tract. Assam and Chittagong, like the Malabar coast and British Burma, still possess vast areas of virgin forest, although the more accessible tracts have been ruthlessly laid waste. Beside sál and Pinus Kasya, the timber-trees of Assam include nahor or Assam nágeswar (Mesua ferrea), súm (Artocarpus Chaplasha), and járul forests. (Lagerstroemia Flos-Reginæ). Ficus elastica, yielding the caoutchouc of commerce, was formerly common, but now the supply is chiefly brought from beyond the frontier. Plantations of teak, tún (Cedrela Toona), sissu, and Ficus elastica are

Burmese forests.

Central
India.

Forest
adminis-
tration.
'Reserved'
forests.

'Open' forests. 'Plantations.'

Forest finance, 1873-1883.

1873.

1878.

1883.

merce.

now being formed and guarded by the Forest Department. In Burma, the importance of teak exceeds that of all the other timber-trees together. Next comes iron-wood (Xylia dolabriformis), and Acacia Catechu, which yields the cutch of comThroughout the centre of the peninsula, forests cover a very extensive area; but their value is chiefly local, as none of the rivers are navigable. Towards the east, sál predominates, and in the west there is some teak; but fine timber of either species is comparatively scarce. Rájputána has a beautiful tree of its own, the Anogeissus pendula, with small leaves and drooping branches.

From the administrative point of view, the Indian forests are classified as 'reserved' or as 'open.' The reserved forests are those under the immediate control of officers of the Forest Department. They are managed as the property of the State, with a single eye to their conservancy and future development as a source of national wealth. Their limits are demarcated after survey; nomadic cultivation by the hill tribes is prohibited; cattle are excluded from grazing; destructive creepers are cut down; and the hewing of timber, if permitted at all, is placed under stringent regulations. The open forests are less carefully guarded; but in them, also, certain kinds of timber-trees are preserved. A third class of forest lands consists of plantations, on which large sums of money are spent annually, with a view to the rearing and development of timber-trees.

It is difficult to present, in a summary view, the entire financial aspects of the labours of the Forest Department. In 1872-73, the total area of reserved forests in India was estimated at more than 6,000,000 acres; and the area has probably been doubled since that date. In the same year, the total forest revenue was £477,000, as compared with an expenditure of £295,000, thus showing a surplus of £182,000.

By 1877-78, the revenue had increased to £664,102, of which 160,308 was derived from British Burma, and £126,163 from Bombay. The forest exports in that year included-teak, valued at £406,652; lac and lac-dye, £362,008; caoutchouc, £89,381; and gums, £183,685.

By the end of 1882-83, the total forest revenue had further increased to £963,859, of which £250,389 was derived from British Burma, £209,035 from Bombay, £101,340 from the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, £97,765 from the Central Provinces, £90,644 from Madras, £76,671 from the Punjab, £69,396 from Bengal, £24,861 from Assam, £28,704 from Berar, and 13,802 from Coorg. From each of these Pro