PART I. 



SUMMARY OF FACTS ON WHICH THE PROPOSALS ARE BASED. 



CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION OF THE TRACT DEALT WITH. 

 ARTICLE 1. Name and Situation. 



THIS report deals with the forests of the Damoh Division. These comprise all the 

 forests of the Damoh district of the Jubbulpore Commissionership, with the exception of 

 9,800 acres situated in the extreme south-west corner of the district, which is administered 

 as a part of the Narsinghpur Division. The Damoh Division is thus bounded : 



North. The Panna, Bijawar and Chhatarpur States. 



South. The Saugor, Narsinghpur and Jubbulpore Divisions. 



East. The Panna State and Jubbulpore Division. 



i 

 West. The Saugor Division. 



2. The Government forests are situated principally in the northern and southern hilly 

 portions of the district, the central tract being largely alluvial and consequently highly culti- 

 vated. The Division is divided into four ranges, viz., the Northern, Central, South-Western 

 and South-Eastern ranges. 



ARTICLE 2. Configuration of the Ground. 



3. We are here on the water-shed of the Ganges and the Nerbudda systems, but by far 

 the larger portion of the area lies in the valley of the former river, its drainage being carried 

 by the Bearmi into the Jumna, while only that of the outer slopes of the Vindhyan plateau 

 on the south and south-east goes into the Nerbudda. The southern half of the district is 

 rugged and hilly ; then comes the alluvial belt already mentioned, about 20 miles wide, the 

 entire length of which is traversed by the Sonar, an affluent of the Bearmi, which it joins at 

 the north-eastern corner of the district. Finally this plain is closed in on the north by a 

 line of hills which run along the northern boundary of the district. 



4. It is in these two hilly tracts that all the forests of the Division are situated, with the 

 single exception of Block 19, which lies outside in the alluvial plain. 



5. The northern hilly tract consists of a plateau stretching between the Semri Naddi on 

 the north and the Sonar river on the south. The northern slopes are indented by deep and 

 precipitous gorges at the bottom of which flow the Semri and its affluents, while on the south 

 the plateau slopes down gently towards the Sonar plain. 



6. The southern hilly tract comprises the great plateau of the Upper Bhander rocks, 

 which stretches with only one interruption from a line drawn through Damoh and Patera in 

 the north to the rich alluvial plain of the Nerbudda in the Jubbulpore and Narsinghpur 

 districts in the south, the northern slopes being generally precipitous. The interruption 

 mentioned above is that caused by the peculiar alluvial plain in the north of the south-eastern 

 range, in which Jabera and Singrampur are situated, its central portion being occupied by 

 the Amghat hill. The eastern portion of this plain is drained by the Phulku river into the 

 Hiran, a tributary of the Nerbudda, and the western by the Bhadar river into the Goraiya, 

 a tributary of the Bearmi. The southern portion of the pleateau, on which most of the forests 

 of the south-western and south-eastern ranges are situated, is flat or gently undulating, the 

 rocky table-land being interrupted only by the steep ravines and narrow valleys cut by the 

 Bearmi and its numerous tributaries, the principal of which are here the Berma, Goraiya and 

 Bhadar. Towards the north, in the area composing the central range and the northern 

 portion of the south-eastern range, the plateau becomes much cut up and interrupted, and 

 large areas of undulating alluvial ground separate the irregular masses of flat-topped hills, 

 which, sloping gently towards the surrounding plain, are themselves intersected in all 

 directions by deep ravines and gorges. 



