FOREST SURVEYING 43 



regions the finest forests are so remote from roads that 

 their value is much diminished. The object of the survey 

 was to determine the position of all forests, and ascertain 

 what extent existed within reasonable distance of land 

 or water carriage. If the river flowing down the adjoin- 

 ing valley were large enough to float down logs to the 

 plains, it might then be feasible to construct roads or 

 timber slides to transport the logs to the water, as 

 in Switzerland and the Black Forest. This had been 

 tried in the deodar forests of the Punjab, mostly in terri- 

 tory belonging to rajahs. But the great roaring torrents 

 of the Sutlej and its tributaries, rushing in the rainy 

 season through rocky defiles, had been found so destruc- 

 tive to the timber floated down that much loss was 

 occasioned. All such features had to be reported on, 

 and sites selected for roads and saw-mills. 



I have sketched the principal features of the work of 

 forest surveying, and will now proceed with the narrative 

 of events, and describe by the way the human inhabitants 

 and game animals of the hill forests. 



