EARLY HISTORY. 



forest. Once a sal forest has been effectively cleared for cultiva- 

 tion a very long period would have to elapse before such cultivation 

 would revert to sal forest, although it would quickly relapse into 

 waste with scattered miscellaneous trees and shrubs. 



The control of the Moghal Emperors over Oudh was generally 

 ineffective and it was not till 1791 when Saadat Khan was 

 appointed Viceroy of Oudh that any real attempt was made to 

 control the various local Kajahs who had usurped the reins of 

 government and were continually at war with each other. 



The rule of the Nawab-Wazirs of Oudh only added to the 

 depopulation of the country and to the decay of agriculture and 

 further large areas of cultivation relapsed into jungle. Thus 

 throughout several centuries the sal forest was preserved because 

 of an unsettled government and troublous times. The advent of 

 the British peace was the signal for a fresh onslaught on the forest 

 and very nearly completed its ruin. 



\jThe principal forest bearing tracts of the United Provinces, History 

 namely, the forests of the hills, submontane and Tarai,came under f 

 British rule after the Nepalese war of 181416, and for the next 

 40 years the energies of the Administration were employed in 

 attempting to open up these jungle tracts with the object of 

 increasing cultivation. The forests were treated to an orgy of 

 destruction in many districts, more especially in Gorakhpur and 

 the eastern districts, but also in the Bhabar forests of Nairn Tal, 

 and to a smaller extent in the hills, where serious attempts were 

 made to develop tea gardens and a tea industry. After the mutiny 

 of 1857, the great expansion of the railways developed an enormous 

 demand for timber for sleepers, and all the accessible forests of the 

 province were depleted of their best timber trees for the production 



sleepers and other uses. In a very short time the Railways, 



lic Works, and all timber consumers were threatened with a 



.mber famine, for the surviving forests could not withstand a 



Combination of systematic destruction for the purpose of cultiva- 



iion, of extensive exploitation, and of entire absence of any 



