INTRODUCTORY. 31 



three and their nearest congeners occupied by other 

 forms. It is a most singidar coincidence ; and such 

 must be my excuse for devoting so much of my space 

 to what must be to many an uninteresting discussion. 

 I have said that at the time the Central Provinces 

 were constituted, little was accurately known regard- 

 ing the forest resources of their vast w^aste regions. 

 It had, indeed, been suspected that the projectors of 

 the railways had over-calculated the possible supply ; 

 but it was little guessed that the exhaustion had gone 

 so far as really proved to be the case. In another 

 place will be found an account of the system of cultiva- 

 tion of the hill-tribes, who had for centuries devastated 

 the forests, by the cutting and burning of their best 

 timber to form ashes to manure their wretched fields 

 of half-wild grain. This was itself almost sufficient 

 to have proved the ruin of the forests, but other 

 causes had not been absent. The most valuable timbers 

 for the railway and other useful purposes are the Teak 

 and the Sal ; indeed, no others have been found to be 

 really lasting when subjected to the great and sudden 

 variations of an Indian climate. The Teak tree is 

 perhaps the most generally useful in the whole world. 

 In combined strength, lightness, elasticity, and endurance 

 there is none to compare with it. At the present day 

 its uses cover a wider range than those of any other 

 timber, from the handle of an axe in its native forests 

 to the backing of an ironclad in the navy of England. 

 But it is unfortunate also that it is the easiest of all 

 timbers to fell, and makes better firewood and charcoal 

 than any other. It is little wonder, then, that on it 

 almost exclusively, where found, had fallen the weight 

 of the people's requirements, ever since the country 



