CHAPTER IX. 



The clearing Mode of felling forest Bamboos -Their uses 

 Felling bamboos Lopping Burning The burn 

 Clearing Pitting before clearing Leeches. 



I HAVE somewhere come upon the following de- 

 scription of a newly-felled clearing in Ceylon : 

 " The sun was high in the horizon, when we found 

 ourselves at a turn of the road in the midst of 

 a clearing ; the spot we had opened on was at 

 the entrance of a long valley of great width, 

 on one side of which lay the estate we were bound 

 to. It was not difficult to fancy one's self in the 

 recesses of the Black Forest ; pile on pile of heavy 

 dark jungle rose before us. Before us were, as near 

 as I could judge, fifty acres of felled jungle in 

 thickest disorder ; just as the monarchs of the 

 forest had fallen, so they lay heap upon heap, 

 crushed and splintered into ten thousand fragments. 

 To me it was a pretty as well as a novel sight to 

 watch the felling work in progress. Two axe-men 

 to each tree if small, three and sometimes four to 



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