84 REPORT — 1851.. 



bamboos loaded with timber. Teak, black-wood, and ebony are forbid to 

 be cut ; but I am well assured that these proliibited timbers are taken away 

 in great quantities every year ; we have no means whatever of preventing it. 



" 3. The forests are rented yearly to the highest bidder; the renters, holding 

 their farms for a year only, have no interest in preserving the forests ; on the 

 contrary, their interests are best served by their destruction. They make 

 their profits by taxing the timber-cutters and coomri cultivators ; therefore 

 the more jungle there is cut, the greater are their profits. The consequence 

 of this indiscriminate cutting is the total disappearance of teak in localities 

 where it formerly abounded, especially in the vicinity of the river Toonga. 

 Buchanan in his ' Journey ' says at vol. iii. p. 287, ' Here {i. e. between Teer- 

 thully and Mundagudda in the Cowledroog Talook) were many fine teak- 

 trees, more indeed than I have ever seen in any one place. They might be 

 of value could they be floated down the Toonga to the Kerishna, and so to 

 the sea.' This is after he had seen the Soonda and other fine forests in Canara. 

 When at the same place in February last, I saw no teak, and I saw none the 

 whole length of the river as far as Mundagudda. 



" 4. There is some teak remaining in the forests near Mundagudda about 

 twenty miles from this, but it is fast disappearing, and in a few years there 

 will be none M'ithin the reach of the river. Teak is occasionally cut on 

 account of Government, brought to Shemoga, and sold ; but it does not bring 

 a good price. The average amount of sale for the last five years is Com- 

 pany's rupees 181 6, as is shown in the accompanying statement, which 

 exhibits also the average of each item of i-evenue, the produce of the forests 

 for the same time, and a total average of Canteroy pags. 1168 5, or Com- 

 pany's rupees S397 i 2 annually. 



"5. This is all the revenue that the magnifijcent forests of Nuggur are made 

 to yield by the present system, which is fraught with mischief. There is no 

 preservation of the timber that stands, nor encouragement of the growth of 

 young trees ; and at the present rate of destruction there can be no doubt 

 that in a few years there will be no valuable timber left in places from which 

 it can be carried away. 



"6. But this is by no means the only evil : Coomri cultivation is mischie- 

 vous in various ways. The following are some of the most prominent objec- 

 tions to it. It causes llie most rapid destruction of the forests, which, it is 

 a well-ascertained fact, lessens the quantity of rain and moisture, and must 

 thus, in the course of no very long time, seriously affect the cultivation and 

 prosperity of the country. The cultivation of the Mulnaad* is solely de- 

 pendent on rain (there being no irrigation), and requires abundance of it. 

 The people of the Mulnaad begin already to remark that there is a diminu- 

 tion of rain ; and I think it highly probable that it is attributable to the vast 

 extent of Coomri clearings all over the country, but especially along the crest 

 of the Ghauts. Looking over Canara, immense tracts of Coomri are to be 

 seen as far as the eye can reach. Some weeks ago I went down the new 

 Ghaut leading from Hunnaur, above the Ghauts, to Colioor in Canara, and 

 Avas much struck with the immense extent of Coomri. I saw tens of thou- 

 sands of acres cleared on the hills. The new pass is six miles long, and is en- 

 tirely through clearing, where not a single forest-tree is left standing. In these 

 clearings, the primaeval forest, with all its beautiful timber and valuable pro- 

 ductions, has given place to a thick scrub of noxious weeds and brambles, , 

 containing nothing useful. It may be supposed that clearing the forest would . 

 make the country more healthy, and so it would if the clearing were more; 

 permanent ; but the forest is now destroyed only to be replaced by a thick ; 

 * i. e. Rain-country. 



