" SAETAGE " IN INDIA. 79 



In an old Koomaree the jungle trees grow up again, but 

 they are unfit for building purposes ; and in this respect 

 settlers in the country are put to expense and incon- 

 venience, as well as the Government, in their building 

 operations, and coffee-planters generally find their planting 

 operations brought to a very unsatisfactory and abrupt 

 termination by a Koomaree, on which I have never been 

 able to get coffee to grow yet. In Nuggur, where Koomaree 

 cultivation was prohibited, stringent regulations in regard 

 to the cutting of timber were issued at the same time. 

 Every person requiring wood was required to apply before 

 felling it ; the cultivator had not to pay for it, but the 

 non- cultivator had, and I am of opinion that these 

 measures have operated pretty well. The more I think of 

 Koomaree the more surprised I feel that it has been toler- 

 ated for such a length of time. It is carried on by a set 

 of savages, in every sense of the word, who would be much 

 more profitably employed on public works or on coffee 

 plantations.' 



This testimony of Mr Cannan is in accordance with 

 what has been observed by others, including, I believe, 

 all those who have given attention to the subject. But Dr 

 Cleghorn speaks alike of ' the axe of the coffee-planter 

 and of the Koomaree cultivator,' as having made extensive, 

 and even wanton havoc, devastating a large portion of the 

 area of the primaeval forest. 



In regard to clearings for coffee plantations, Dr Cleg- 

 horn states in another report : 



' The successful cultivation of the coffee plant is exceed- 

 ingly remarkable, and applications for grants of forest 

 land pour in upon the revenue authorities. In the 

 Sispara, Perambady, and Sampajee, vast clearings are 

 being made. In the Kumur-Ghat six large plantations 

 may be seen; and there are very large and numerous 

 holdings above thirty in the Wain&d, which from year to 

 year will increase. The plant has succeeded admirably in 



