224 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



The grass-burning, universal in the jungles of these 

 provinces, is undoubtedly beneficial in a great variety of 

 ways. It allows, and assists by the manure of the ashes, 

 a crop of green and tender grass-shoots to appear for the 

 grazing of vast herds of cattle, which form great part of 

 the wealth of the people in the neighbourhood of jungle 

 tracts. It kills multitudes of snakes and noxious insects. 

 It probably prevents much malaria that would arise 

 from the vegetation if gradually allowed to decay. It 

 destroys much of the harbour for wild beasts. And 

 the ashes no doubt form a valuable ino-redient in the 

 deposits of soil carried down by the drainage of these 

 hills to lower regions, and in the cultivable crust 

 gradually forming in these uplands themselves. It has 

 been held by some that these fires are very injurious 

 to the growth of saplings of teak and other valuable 

 trees. But it is an undoubted fact that teak seeds 

 will germinate and produce seedlings wdiere the grass 

 has been fired better than where it has not ; and it 

 is not well established that much permanent injury is 

 afterwards done to the seedlings. 



The labour of exploring such forests as those I have 

 described during the hot season, when alone they are 

 sufiiciently open and free from malaria, is immense — 

 day after day toiling over those interminable basaltic 

 ridges, where many marches have often to be made 

 without meeting an inhabitant, without often a single 

 green tree for shelter, and dependent for water on a 

 few stagnant pools puddled up by the feet of wild 

 animals. This was what often fell to the lot of the forest 

 officers of those early days. I doubt if many of them 

 would have gone on with the task but for the love 

 of sport and adventure which probably led to their 



