24 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



modern Hinduism; and a grave problem remains unsolved 

 in the question of our duty towards these races as a Govern- 

 ment. What I have to say on these points will find a place 

 further on. 



The region is also remarkable as forming the meeting ground 

 of some forms of vegetable and animal life, which seem to 

 be characteristic of North-eastern and South-western India. 

 The principal forest-tree of upper India is the Sal (Shorea 

 robusta), a tree whose habit it is to occupy, where it grows at 

 all, the whole area, almost to the exclusion of others. It thus 

 forms vast forests in the lower Himalaya, and covers also the 

 greater portion of the hilly region to the south of the Gan- 

 getic valley. From the latter tract it stretches along the table- 

 land of the subdivision of Bengal called Chota Nagpiir, and 

 thence extends into the Central Provinces in two great 

 branches, separated by the open cleared plain of Chattisgarh. 

 The southern branch reaches as far as the GodaVari river, and 

 the northern embraces the eastern half of the highlands I have 

 described, both branches ceasing almost exactly at the eightieth 

 parallel of east longitude. To the west of this the charac- 

 teristic and most valuable forest-tree is the Teak (Tectoria 

 grandis), which is not found at all in Northern India, or 

 Bengal, and but scantily in the Central Provinces to the east of 

 80 longitude. The Teak- tree is, however, not so exclusive in 

 its habit of growth as the Sal, appearing rather in the form of 

 scattered clumps among other forms than as the sole occupant 

 of large areas. 



Some explanation of this peculiar disposition of these two 

 timber trees may perhaps be found in their habits of growth 

 and relation to various soils. The Sal is a tree possessed of a 

 remarkable power of propagating itself, shedding an enormous 

 number of seeds, at a season (the commencement of the rains) 



