32 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



was first populated by civilised tribes. I have already 

 said that it is a most difficult tree to reproduce, the 

 seeds being exposed to the extremities of danger before 

 they have the opportunity to germinate. The seedlings 

 also, with their great dried leaves like so many sheets 

 of tinder, are more exposed to injury by fire than those 

 of any other tree. Thus the Teak had everywhere 

 been mercilessly cut down, and had to struggle with 

 the most adverse circumstances to maintain a footing 

 at all. Over great tracts, where it probably once grew, 

 it has been utterly exterminated, giving place to a 

 " shoddy aristocracy " of such worthless species as the 

 Boswellia, which no one would dream of cutting, and 

 on which nature has bestowed all the indestructible 

 vitality of a weed. The Teak has but one rare and 

 valuable property, by means of which it has alone 

 continued to survive at all in many places. However 

 much it may be cut and hacked, if the root only be 

 left, it will continue to throw up a second growth of 

 shoots, which grow in the course of a few years to the 

 size of large poles. This is the sort of timber which 

 was chiefly in demand for the small native houses before 

 the introduction of our great public works ; and thus, 

 perhaps, may be explained the apathy with which the 

 native Governments witnessed the destruction of the 

 forests of large timber. A further reference to this 

 matter will be found further on. 



The Sal-tree, again, as I have explained, possesses a 

 much stronger vitality as a species than the Teak ; 

 though from its liability to heartshake, dry-rot, and 

 boring by insects, as well as its want of all power (like 

 most resinous trees) of throwing out coppice wood, the 

 individual trees are much more perishable than the 



