INTEODUCTOEY. 27 



open Narbada valley, but so does all forest, the country 

 having been completely cleared and cultivated for many 

 generations. It is not then a very violent assumption to 

 suppose that the Sal forest at one time extended down 

 the Narbada valley as far as the Denwa, and that, when the 

 country was cleared, this little patch alone was left securely 

 nestled under the cliffs of the Mahadeo range, in the secluded 

 valley of the Denwa, into which there was no road even until 

 within the last few years. 



These are strange facts. But it would be still more strange if 

 a corresponding distribution of animal life could also be demon- 

 strated. Something of the kind is really almost possible. 

 Equally with the Sal tree, several prominent members of the 

 Central Indian fauna belong peculiarly to the north-eastern 

 parts of India. These are the wild buffalo (Bubalus Ami), the 

 twelve-tined " swamp " deer (Rucervus Duvaucellii), and the 

 red jungle-fowl (G alius f err ugineus). 'All these are plentiful 

 within the area of the great Sal belt, but do not occur to the 

 west of it, excepting in the Sell patch of the Denwd valley, 

 where the two latter, though not the buffalo, again recur. In 

 the Denwa valley there is but a solitary herd of the swamp 

 deer, I believe ; the red jungle-fowl are not so numerous as 

 the rival species, G. Sonneratii, which replaces it in the west 

 and south of India ; and it is not surprising that the wild 

 buffalo should have disappeared when his range had been 

 reduced, by the clearance of the intermediate forest, to the 

 narrow limits of this small valley. So large and prominent 

 an animal requires a much larger range than deer and birds ; 

 and there is no part of the surrounding country suitable for 

 his habits until we reach the Sal tracts again, though very 

 probably the extensive black soil plains of the Narbada valley 

 were so before they were cleared. In corroboration of the 



