384 Japan. 



more probably their distance from centers of consump- 

 tion and their general inaccessibility preserved those of 

 Kokkaido and of the northern mountains. Certainly 

 the brush forests south of Tokyo do not testify to great 

 care. 



The detested shogunate was abolished in 1867 by a 

 revolution which brought the mikado to his rights again 

 and crushed the power of the daimios, whose fiefs were 

 surrendered, and their acquisitions of forestry property, 

 as well as (a few years later) those of the priests, were 

 declared State property, with the exception of some 

 which were recognized as communal properties. 



Similar to the experiences of France, the disturbances 

 in property conditions, which implied instantaneous loss 

 by the people of all rights of user in the State property 

 as well as removal of all restrictions from private and 

 communal properties, led to wholesale depredations from 

 the State domain, and to widespread deforestation and 

 devastation, an area of a million acres of burnt waste 

 near Kofu, west of Tokyo, testifying to the recklessness 

 of these times. 



Without any force to guard property rights, stealing 

 on an extensive scale, similar to past experiences in the 

 United States, with the accompanying wastefulness, be- 

 came the order of the day, and is even now not uncom- 

 mon. 



A first provisional administration of State forests was 

 inaugurated and a forest reconnaissance ordered in 1875, 

 in order to secure insight into the mixed-up property 

 relations, and restore to their rightful owners such por- 

 tions as had been wrongly taken by the State. 



In 1878, the State forests were placed under a special 



