48 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



accounts, drew out the monthly pay-bills, and paid the 

 coolies, besides taking their share of plotting-in, and 

 counting lines of timber through the forest with the chain. 

 There were six chaprasis with red belts and brass plates 

 labelled ' Forest Department,' symbols of office, whose 

 business was to carry the dak and bring out bags of 

 rupees monthly from the nearest tahsil (treasury) ; to go 

 on ahead and obtain supplies for the camp from the 

 villages on a parvana, or authority, from the Deputy-Com- 

 missioner, ordering every pudhan, or headman of the 

 village, to furnish supplies and coolies as porters. The 

 cooUes received four annas a day, or stage, each man. 

 This was double the old rate of pay for a coolie, an ad- 

 vantage which the good and much praised Commissioner 

 Sahib had thought right to procure from the Government, 

 owing to the scarcity of men, and the hardships often 

 inflicted by frequent requisitions and the severity of the 

 work. Each coolie was apportioned a load of thirty sers, 

 or sixty pounds, which was a heavy burden to carry ten 

 or twelve miles up and down precipitous paths, often 

 scarce traversable by goats. 



There was a great difference between the villagers of the 

 lower valleys and the upper hills. The former, dressed 

 in coarse white cotton clothing, mostly a jacket and loin- 

 cloth, were wretched, poor, fever-stricken people ; the 

 latter, a fine, robust, and muscular lot, with sturdy limbs 

 and jovial manners. They were clad in coarse home- 

 made woollen jackets and trousers, tight below the knee, 

 and woollen folded caps. The women wore a coloured 

 bodice, with a gap of shiny brown skin between that and 

 the petticoat, which was of strong woollen material. 

 The loads were often carried by women, who bore them 

 on their heads, or sometimes on their backs with a strap 

 over the head. 



