THE HILL FORESTS OF WESTERN INDIA. 665 



Bombay and Tennaserini, which, however, met with no success, partly 

 because they were on too ambitious a scale, and partly because the 

 ancient forest rights of the people were not sujEficiently considered. 

 " General Michael," he said, " set to work in a more modest manner 

 and in a far more conciliatory spirit, and after six years his exertions, 

 which completely broke down his health, were crowned with such 

 success that the Court of Directors in London at once took up the 

 subject warmly, and rapidly extended the Madras system of conser- 

 vancy all over India." In the same discussion General Michael was 

 referred to by Sir Joseph Fayrer as " certainly one of the great bene- 

 factors of India." 



No account of Indian Forestry, however summary, would be satis- 

 factory without a reference to his services. It was the enthusiasm, 

 born of a love of woodland life, innate in such men as Dr. Gibson and 

 himself, and the out-of-door experience acquired by them and others, 

 whether as foresters or sportsmen, and interested as such in every phase 

 of forest craft, which really prepared a firm foundation for the stately 

 fabric of scientific forestry raised by their successors. 



It was from the City of Edinburgh, with its grand Botanic Gardens 

 and its long array of men of science, prominent among them, in our 

 own time, in connection with much that relates to the science of Fores- 

 try being Professors James Hutton Balfour and Bayley Balfour, that 

 the effective impulse was received which determined the further deve- 

 lopment of the Forest Department. In 1850 the British Association 

 met in Edinburgh and appointed a Committee to consider the probable 

 effects, from an economic and physical point of view, of the destruction 

 of tropical forests. In the following year, the Committee presented at 

 Ipswich a report which embodied the general conclusions and recom- 

 mendations arrived at, and demonstrated the importance of preserving 

 every condition tending to maintain an equilibrium of temperature and 

 humidity, of preventing the disappearance of indigenous forests, and of 

 taking the requisite steps for extending forest conservancy and en- 

 suring the due and continued supply of valuable forest produce. The 

 weighty evidence adduced by the Committee and the broad views enun- 

 ciated by them so impressed the Court of Directors that, within a few 

 years, regular establishments were sanctioned for the Madras Presi- 

 dency and British Burma. In 1856, Dr. Cleghorn took up General 

 10 



