THE TEAK EEGION. 211 



of the laborious tiller of the hard-used lands in the outer valley. 

 But it is a terrible and unequal struggle between the aborigine, 

 even so far reclaimed as these Korkiis are, and the jungle with 

 its immense and unremitting strength of vegetation, and 

 tribes of noxious wild beasts. Every now and again the heart 

 of the Korku fails him, and he abandons the contest, flitting 

 off to some hill-side where he may more easily contend with 

 axe and fire against the less exuberant vegetation of the thin 

 mountain soils. On the whole, however, the habits of the 

 Korkiis of the Tapti valley are a great advance on those of the 

 tribes inhabiting the Mahadeo hills further east. Their culti- 

 vation is performed with the bullock plough instead of the axe, 

 and is of a much more permanent character. Their villages and 

 houses are much more substantial, and are seldom changed ; 

 and habits of providence and steady industry have been de- 

 veloped among them which are unknown to either Gond or 

 Korku of other parts. Much of this may, no doubt, be due to 

 their fortunate occupation of a country where cultivation by 

 annual cutting down the forest is scarcely possible, owing to 

 the scantiness of timber and of soil on the slopes of the hills, 

 while the neighbourhood of so large a city as Burhanpiir must 

 always have furnished them with a regular and remunerative 

 market for their produce. 



The grass burning universal in the jungles of these pro- 

 vinces is undoubtedly beneficial in a great variety of ways. 

 It allows, and assists by the manure of the ashes, a crop of 

 green and tender grass-shoots to appear for the grazing of 

 vast herds of cattle, which form great part of the wealth of 

 the people in the neighbourhood of jungle tracts. It kills 

 multitudes of snakes and noxious insects. It probably pre- 

 vents much malaria that would arise from the vegetation if 

 gradually allowed to decay. It destroys much of the harbour 



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