662 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY Vol. Xlh 



the course of time," says Lt.-Col. F. Bailey, formerly Superintendent 

 of Forest Surveys and Acting Inspector- General of Forests in India, 

 and now Lecturer on Forestry in the University of Edinburgh, " not 

 only were large areas entirely cleared for cultivation and for village 

 sites, but more numerous flocks and herds, driven for their daily food 

 into the jungles, led to the impoverishment of a forest belt of ever 

 increasing width around the occupied tracts." During the hot season, 

 dry grass, fallen leaves and dead wood were set on fire in order to 

 clear the ground for a fresh growth of grass for cattle and also to 

 simplify the pursuit of game. But such practices, with those of 

 over cutting and digging up roots for fuel, soon destroyed the pro- 

 tective forest growth, and heavy rains then washed away the soil. 

 Cows and bullocks could no longer be kept in good condition on the 

 scanty herbage that remained, and the villagers began to keep large 

 flocks of goats, " against whose hoofs and teeth" as Lt.-Col. Bailey 

 remarks, " it is well known that forest growth cannot contend." The 

 village goats are still formidable foes to young plantations, though, 

 in the estimation of Sir Clements Markham, " the uneducated man," 

 in his dealings witb forests, goes far beyond the goat in his capacity 

 for mischief. 



It would be satisfactory to be able to say that a wiser policy pre- 

 vailed after the establishment of British Rule. But unhappily that 

 was not the case for many years. " With the advent of British Rule," 

 says Dr. Schlich, '' the destruction of the forests became more fierce 

 than ever." The extension of cultivation " at the cost of the still 

 existing forests" was carried out I'or many years " without any enquiry 

 as to the ultimate effects." With the introduction of railways, a fur- 

 ther impetus was given to cultivation in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of railway lines and stations, and with the steady increase of 

 prosperity under a settled Government, the demands for timber and 

 firewood increased enormously throughout the country. And thus the 

 reduction of forest areas went on with all its attendant evils. 

 Lt.-Col. Bailey cites the case of the outer Himalayan spurs in the 

 Eoshiarpur district of the Panjab, where, as the rock is very friable, 

 serious damage has been caused by denudation. Within the memory of 

 living men, these hills were well covered with forests or tall grass, 

 and the hill streams ran evenly in well-defined channels. But the 



