&4 THE FOREST LAKDS OF FINLAND. 



Canara, for his observations. In accounting for a growing 

 scarcety of timber, Mr Blane noticed, among the most in- 

 fluential causes, the increase in the Koomaree cultivation, 

 which bid fair, he then considered, to destroy the whole 

 of the large virgin forests within a short time. He ex 

 pressed his opinion that it should either be placed under 

 considerable check and regulation, cr entirely prohibited, 

 as had been done in Mysore. Mr Blair, a former collector, 

 he stated, had, in 1843, issued a proclamation directing 

 that five valuable kinds of timber, viz. : teak, pun, black- 

 wood, jack, arid sandal should be preserved in the Govern- 

 ment forests; but this, Mr Blane states, had practically 

 no effect, inasmuch as the timber-merchants continued to 

 fell the timber wherever they found it, on the plea that 

 they cut it from private jungles, and had obtained the 

 permission of the owners to do so. To defeat this subter- 

 fuge, Mr Blane had directed that when j ungle was claimed 

 as private property, the right must be established before 

 timber is cut. The clearance of the jungle, so injurious in 

 many respects, had been attended with one great advantage. 

 According to all reports it had diminished the prevalence 

 of fever. On this account, principally, he had confined his 

 recommendation to the confirmation of his prohibition of 

 the felling of the five superior kinds of timber, and to the 

 preservation of the jungle in spots near the rivers, or the 

 sea-coast, where, from its position, the timber could be 

 easily made available, and the inferior kinds of wood 

 might be allowed, under proper regulations, to be cut as 

 firewood for export. 



' 8. On this report being laid before Government, they, 

 agreeably to the recommendation of the Board, authorised 

 the Collector of Canara to restrict the cultivation of 

 Koomaree to " such places, and to such an extent, as 

 might, in his opinion, be expedient for the preservation 

 of the forest, and the general welfare of the province." 

 He was also instructed to assert the right of Government 

 to all forest lands to which a title cannot be clearly estab- 

 lished by private individuals.' 



