34 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



that after a certain^ time the forests would be brought 

 under Government management and strictly conserved. 

 This was the death-blow to the remainder of the Teak 

 throughout the northern parts of the tract. The railway 

 contractors, and numerous speculators, foreseeing the 

 value that timber was likely to acquire, owing to rail- 

 way operations and the closing of the forests, then went 

 into the jungles with bags of rupees in their hands, and 

 spread them broadcast among the wild tribes, with 

 instructions to slay and spare not — to fell every Teak 

 tree larger than a sapling that they could find, and 

 mark them with their peculiar mark. It was only too 

 faithfully done ; and scarcely anything that was accessible 

 escaped the axe. Now came delay in the railway works, 

 failure of the contractors, and want of money. The cut 

 timber was abandoned wholesale where it lay. Teak 

 wood is full of oil, and burns readily after lying for a 

 short time. The jungle fires occurred as usual in the 

 long dry grass where the logs were lying, and the great 

 majority of them were burnt ! The exact amount of the 

 destruction can never be known. For years afterwards, 

 when exploring in the forests, we continued to come on 

 the charred remains of multitudes of these slaughtered 

 innocents, most of them being quite immature and unfit 

 for felling at any time. All that were worth anything 

 were saved by the Forest Department in after years, 

 and the value even of these amounted to many lacs of 

 rupees. They were not a hundredth part of those that 

 were cut, which should probably be reckoned by millions 

 rather than thousands. The injury done to the forests 

 and to the country by this most mistaken measure may 

 never be recovered ; certainly it cannot be recovered in 

 less than two generations of the people's life. Such was 



