THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 157 



auction. Now came a just retribution on the whole race 

 of Kulars. There were far more of them engaged in the 

 liquor-trade than were required to man these shops ; all were 

 wealthy and reckless, and also jealous of each other ; and so a 

 strong competition for the licenses set in among them. Fabu- 

 lous sums were bid at the auctions in many cases ; and every- 

 where the price of liquor was so forced up by this and the 

 heavy still-head duty that the poorer classes could no longer 

 afford to drink it in excessive quantity. Sales thus diminished, 

 while the expenses of a shop were largely increased ; and the 

 result was the almost universal ruin of the Kulars, arfd the 

 complete breaking up of their system of traffic. The gold 

 ornaments they had flaunted to the world gradually dis- 

 appeared, and many of them ended in utter bankruptcy. It 

 may, perhaps, be regretted that a less sudden and seemingly 

 oppressive method of curing the canker that was eating into 

 the frontier society did not suggest itself ; but it is difficult to 

 pity so vicious and unscrupulous a tribe as these Kulars. 

 Though the consumption of liquor has fallen off immensely, 

 the state revenue has not suffered, the avowed object of get- 

 ting "the maximum of revenue with the minimum of con- 

 sumption" being fully attained. 



The complement to this overhauling of the excise law was 

 the introduction of our system of forest conservation. So 

 large a subject, regarding which so little knowledge existed, 

 could not be expected to be dealt with in an entirely satisfac- 

 tory manner all at once. Some mistakes were made, the chief 

 of such being to attempt too much on a sudden, and with in- 

 sufficient means. The management of all our immense tracts 

 of waste was thrown upon one or two officers, who had not 

 yet even explored the country, and had nothing besides to 

 guide them, and who were expected to administer a code of 



