212 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA. 



for wild beasts. And the ashes no doubt form a valuable in- 

 gredient in the deposits of soil carried down by the drainage 

 of these hills to lower regions, and in the cultivable crust 

 gradually forming in these uplands themselves. It has been 

 held by some that these fires are very injurious to the growth 

 of saplings of teak and other valuable trees. But it is an 

 undoubted fact that teak seeds will germinate and produce 

 seedlings where the grass has been fired better than where it 

 has not ; and it is not well established that much permanent 

 injury is afterwards done to the seedlings. By great efforts 

 fires were kept out of one or two favourably situated teak 

 forests for some years, but no result of consequence to the 

 young trees has been observed. On the other hand there 

 is no room for doubt that in unburnt tracts the forests 

 must become greatly more malarious, and wild beasts 

 will multiply exceedingly. The discussion, however, can 

 never assume much practical value, since it would be quite 

 impossible, with any means at our command, to keep fires 

 out of any but a few very limited and peculiarly favourable 

 localities. 



The labour of exploring such forests as those I have de- 

 scribed during the hot season, when alone they are sufficiently 

 open and free from malaria, is immense day after day toiling 

 over those interminable basaltic ridges, where many marches 

 have often to be made without meeting an inhabitant, without 

 often a single green tree for shelter, and dependent for water 

 on a few stagnant pools puddled up by the feet of wild ani- 

 mals. This was what often fell to the lot of the forest officers 

 of those early days. I doubt if many of them would have 

 gone on with the task but for the love of sport and adventure 

 which probably led to their original selection of a jungle life ; 

 and there is not one of them whose health did not, after a 



