

CH. V 



MAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 89 



of the component species, fires cause a deterioration in 

 the general character of a forest ; but that protection, in 

 some cases, favours the existence of less valuable species 

 to the detriment of those which are of the greatest 

 value to the owner, and that, in such cases, a careful 

 study of the conditions will show how far it is desir- 

 able to relax the strictness of this protection. It is 

 particularly desirable that fire-protection should be 

 maintained in places liable to erosion. As an instance 

 may be quoted the protection of the outer Himalayan 

 Kange, the Siwaliks, near Dehra Dun, where masses of 

 silt and boulders were washed down in sudden floods 

 and threatened the existence of the Ganges canal. 

 Since the introduction of protection in 1882 the banks 

 of these watercourses have been defined, the extensive 

 chaotic masses of boulders getting covered by forest of 

 Dalbergia Sissoo and Acacia Catechu, and the violence 

 of sudden floods much reduced. The methods which 

 are employed for protecting forests from fire will be 

 described in another chapter. 



When man began to cultivate the soil for its crops, 

 it is most probable that he made a clearing in the 

 forest near his habitation, set fire to the felled trees, 

 and sowed his seed in the soil enriched by the ashes, 

 and when, after cultivating the area for a number of 

 seasons, he found that the crops were of a poorer 

 quality, owing to the exhaustion of the soil, he felled a 

 fresh area. This system of shifting cultivation is still 

 practised on a large scale, especially by uncivilised tribes, 

 where the population is scanty and the area under 

 woody growth extensive. It is known in India under 

 various local names, such as jhum, kumri, and khil, 

 in Burma as taungya, and in Ceylon as chena or hena. 

 But it is not confined to the Indian Empire and Ceylon ; 

 I have seen it used extensively in the Sudan, and it is 

 most probably employed in other parts of the Tropics. 

 As it has been found that the best type of forest gives 

 the richest amount of ash, and that scrub, moreover, is 

 full of thorns and a vexation to the feller, it is to the 



