INTRODUCTION xiii 



writer entered it, because Government became aware 

 that the magnificent forests of India and Burma were being 

 worked by private enterprise in a reckless and wasteful 

 manner, and were likely to become exhausted if super- 

 vision were not exercised. In a country possessing 

 thousands of square miles* of timber-growing jungle, it 

 was found that timber for sleepers had to be imported 

 from Norway for railway construction. The European 

 pine wood, even when creosoted, did not remain sound 

 for long in the climate of India, where the great alterna- 

 tions of extreme drought and damp heat affect timber 

 rapidly and cause it soon to decay. The hard and heavy 

 native timbers, such as teak and sal, are more suitable 

 for withstanding the climate than any European wood. 

 It became absolutely necessary to grow a constant supply 

 of native timber, and for that purpose the existing forests 

 were given into the charge of the new Forest Department 

 under the supervision of skilled officers. Government 

 availed itself of the services of what it could obtain 

 most suitable, and selected a well-known specialist, Dr. 

 Brandis,t who was experienced in the German system 

 of forest management, as Inspector-General of Forests. 

 There were, beside the known teak and sal forests, great 

 areas of waste land under jungle of sorts, almost unex- 

 plored. In order to bring these under supervision and 

 ascertain what was worth protecting. Forest Surveyors 

 were appointed. The writer and two assistants were 

 selected for that post in the North-West Provinces by the 

 Lieutenant-Governor. 



Prior to this my work had been, though not actually in 

 the Forest Department, still very much in the forest. I 

 was employed in engineering and constructing a road 



* In India and Burma 80,000,000 acres, 

 f Now Sir Dietrich Brandis. 



