158 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA. 



rules in detail, throughout this area, which was afterwards 

 found to be much too strict, and to bear very hardly on the 

 people. It could not be done ; and things came ere long to a 

 dead lock, till solved by the rules themselves passing into a 

 dead letter. Presently the proper remedy was applied, by 

 reserving the most promising forests to be directly managed 

 by the special Forest Department, while the greater portion 

 was left to be looked after by the ordinary civil officers. 

 Improved experience has still further improved the system ; 

 but the main features of it w^ere struck out as early as 1864. 

 Restrictions on the method of felling timber were imposed, and 

 a fixed timber-duty levied. These measures, if in some cases 

 not unopen to exception, at least had the effect of inducing a 

 more economical system of working the forests. The abori- 

 gines still furnish the labour in the forests, and, being paid in 

 coin at the regular market value of their work, are enabled to 

 profit by whatever they can earn. For some time the break- 

 ing up of the Kul&r system left a want of private agency in 

 the timber trade ; and the Forest Department itself had to 

 step in and arrange for the supply of the country. At the 

 time this was beneficial in many respects, enabling us to 

 utilize most of the fully ripe standing trees, and the logs 

 lying in the forest, by enhancing the price until it became 

 remunerative to take these out. Now, however, this has 

 ceased to be necessary, and there are sufficient legitimate 

 dealers in the trade to supply all wants. 



It was some time before we ventured to interfere with the 

 devastation caused by the wild tribes in their system of 

 tillage by axe and fire which has been described. Having 

 acquired the reputation of " savage and intractable foresters," 

 it was with considerable hesitation that the first steps were 

 adopted. The most promising forests were encircled by 



