INTRODUCTION. XV 



In writing- tlio remarks on Mm products of en< h free, tho uses for 

 which its wood is valuable, and the various economic purposes to which 

 the hark, fibre, gum, fruit, leaves, &c., are put, information has been 

 extracted from a very large series of books and papers, official documents 

 and notes furnished by the officers who contributed to the Paris Exhibi- 

 tion. In fact, almost all available sources of information have been con- 

 sulted in order to make the remarks as complete as possible. But there 

 is still much to be done, every day adds some new fact to the stores of 

 our information regarding 1 Indian trees : and the Departmental Reports, 

 the Indian Forester, and the various publications of Government on 

 the different subjects of economic interest, the dyes, fibres, gums, oils, 

 &c., are constantly still increasing this information, so that before long 

 even the more recently added items will become old in their turn. 

 As our knowledge of Indian trees and their uses and capabilities extends, 

 and as specimens are obtained and wood structures described, so it is 

 hoped that facts may be collected which will enable some future Forest 

 Officer to revise and republish this work, bringing it up to date and 

 making more wide the area of our knowledge of the wonderful 

 productions of the very varied forest flora of India. It may be 

 called ambitious to attempt a description, even iu the shape of a f Pro- 

 dromus/ of the woods of such a wide field as that of British India; but 

 the difficulty would always be, in attempting to restrict the area, that 

 the various floras of the different regions run so much into one another, 

 and so often contain the same or similar species ; so that it may be hoped 

 that the publication of this work, which, except as regards the wood struc- 

 ture alone, is only after all a compilation, will be looked upon chiefly as 

 an attempt to describe the principal woods of India, and in a less degree 

 as a convenient book of reference for the native names and economic uses 

 of Indian trees. 



The Addenda-Corrigenda sheets are rather lengthy, but the num- 

 ber of corrected mistakes is not very great, the chief reason for length 

 heing the addition of descriptions of woods lately obtained and of native 

 names not before published. The K61 names for instance, it is believed, 

 are herein published for the first time : these, as well as a few Oraon, 

 Bhumij and Kharwar names, were collected by the writer in the winter of 

 1880-81; and he has also added a number of Uriya names obtained 

 in the forests of Khurda, and Magh and Bengali names obtained in 

 Chittagong. The Meclii and Garo names attached to Mr. Shakespear's 

 collections in the Bengal Forest Herbarium have also been added, as 



