INDIA, BURMA, AND ANDAMAN ISLANDS 181 



" teak forests " as such are unknown hence the difficulties 

 of getting the wood are great, and as the forests nearer the 

 rivers get worked out the time and labour experienced in 

 getting teak increases ; in many cases logs have to be 

 dragged for miles overland by elephants before they reach 

 the stream or choung which leads to the main river down 

 which they may have to be rafted for a thousand miles ; 

 many of these choungs are dry for seven months of the 

 year, and the timber can only be taken down in the rains, so 

 that a scanty rainy season means a bad floating season and 

 consequently a short supply. This difficulty in extraction 

 accounts for the high price of Kangoon teak. An idea of 

 the scattered disposition of teak timber may be gathered 

 from the fact that although in Burma alone there are 

 120,000 square miles of forest, according to the report of 

 the Forest Administration (1904-5), only 218,466 tons of 

 50 cubic feet were extracted in that year; each square mile 

 of forest only produced If tons, or equal to about one tree 

 per two square miles. 



The method of seasoning teak when standing has been 

 practised in Burma from time immemorial ; it is called 

 " girdling." A notch is cut right round the tree and as low 

 as possible, through the sapwood and about an inch into the 

 heartwood, so as to completely sever connection between 

 bark and sap ; it is then allowed to stand exposed to the action 

 of wind and sun for three years or longer before it is felled. 

 No tree under 6 fc. girth is allowed to be girdled. From 

 the day the tree is girdled until it is lifted on to the saw 

 bench at Rangoon or Moulmein four and a half years are 

 always allowed to elapse, and in some cases a much longer 

 time. The felling and seasoning arrangements are supervised 

 by an officer of the Forestry Department. Teak is strictly 

 preserved by the Government and either cut by them, or 

 the different forests are leased out to timber firms for a 



