408 FORESTRY IN BRITISH BURMA. [April, 



features may not be omitted. The forest is extremely dense, almost 

 impenetrable ; every ray, either for the traverser or plane-tabler, has 

 to be cleared more or less, so that the work progresses literally by 

 inches. The only clearances are those made by the Karens, which 

 are few and far apart. With these exceptions the country is a 

 wilderness, with nothing to relieve the eye. After a time the silence 

 and monotony become so painful that the longing for a change is 

 beyond all description. The Burman cannot endure this, and it is 

 only the European or the Hindustani who has sufficient perseverance 

 to plod his weary way. For three months a fog, quite as dense as 

 any experienced in England, out of London, overhangs this desolate 

 region. It lifts at about 10 a.m., up to which hour there is a constant 

 drip, drip from the trees, and the undergrowth is reeking with moisture 

 which soon causes fever and dysentery. 



Assuming that a topographical survey on the scale of one inch= 

 one mile costs seventy-five rupees per square mile, that scale being 

 the one usually adopted for ordinary topographical purposes, then — 



(a) A four-inch scale survey as carried on this year would cost 

 about 450 rupees per square mile, and the amount debitable to the 

 Forest Department would be about 360 to 375 rupees per square 

 mile. 



(b) A survey on the scale of two inches = one mile would cost 

 about 200 rupees per square mile, and the amount debitable to the 

 Forest Department would be about 125 rupees per square mile. 



(c) A modified four-inch scale survey would cost about 210 rupees 

 per square mile, and the amount debitable to the Forest Department 

 would be about 135 rupees per square mile. 



A modified four-inch scale is one that would suit the requirements 

 of the Forest Department. It would be required to show the following 

 features correctly : — The main watercourses, the main ridges, the 

 boundaries between the different classes of reserves, slopes above 

 thirty degrees where they can be obtained along the routes taken up 

 by the detail surveyor, well-defined dragging-paths and footpaths, and 

 karen areas and plantations. The rest of the details would be approxi- 

 mate, the minor watercourses being shown by dotted lines, and the 

 spurs, slopes, &c., in a different colour (in the field sections) to that 

 used for the portions accurately surveyed. The out-turn, according 

 as a, h, or c is adopted, would probably be about 140, 360, or 300 

 square miles per annum. The reserves in the Pegu circle aggregate 

 2,436 square miles. It is clear, therefore, that if the survey of these 

 is to be completed within a reasonable time, we must be contented 

 with something less than the excellent maps that are being turned 

 out at present, and which are estimated to admit of a yearly out-turn 

 of only 140 square miles. 



