18G JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



plants come on well when the old trees are felled. Owing to the early 

 practice of girdling, on a large scale, middle aged trees before the 

 Forest Department secured control in the nineties, the output of teak 

 will be much smaller in thirty years. The present exploitation is 

 reasonable as the over-ripe trees will be of no value if they are allowed 

 to stand much longer. 



It is impractical to use steam-donkey engines as in the United States 

 of America, and without elephants these forests could not be worked at 

 all. Usually a native elephant owner handles the work on a small creek. 

 Felling is done by ax and saw. The logs are rolled down the moun- 

 tains by the elephants and then dragged by them to the driving creek. 

 LjOgs more than l-i m. in length are not permitted, because it makes 

 driving in the creeks too difficult. The average dragging distances are 

 4-5 km. Sometimes in flat country the logs are transported in two- 

 wheeled cars by 2-10 buffaloes or bullocks. Measurement and marking 

 of the logs are done at the creek. 



On the average it takes three years to float the timber down to 

 Bangkok, but some logs from the remotest parts of the jungle are over 

 10 years on the way. Driving begins with the August rise which 

 usually lasts but a few hours, and after it has receded the elephants are 

 used to collect the strayed logs and place them in the main current. 

 In a creek 35 km. long by air line, with a stock of 15,000 logs. 25 to 30 

 elephants are required to handle the work. In cne main rivers it 

 is impossible for the elephants to work during a rise, and here they 

 can only straighten the timber during the dry season to make it ready 

 for floating the next season and prevent damage by fire. 



When the timber arrives at Central Siam it is made into rafts of 

 about 170 logs (about 500 m^ or 400 tons) to complete the journey to 

 Bangkok. Canes are used for binding material and the rafts are cigar- 

 shaped, about 140 m. long. They are provided with two oars in the 

 bow for steering, and each raft has a crew of three men. In stopping, 

 a man swims to the bank dragging the cane rope after him, fastens it 

 round a tree or pole, gradually slowing the raft. 



The rafting work is very difficult, as the current is strong and the 

 stream crooked in many places. Each contractor usually takes only 

 one raft down and arrives in Sawankaloke on Me Yome in the middle 

 of August and beginning of September. In December the rafts are 

 passed at the duty station at Paknampho, and 10 days later they arrive 

 at Bangkok and are stored a short distance north of the town, where 

 the tide does not make the water brakish. 



