FORESTS OF THE BHABAR AND FOOT-HILLS 195 



and the steep hillsides one saw a mature sal-tree. It is 

 a grand and noble stem, straight up with scarce a branch. 

 I have seen some 16 feet in girth, sound and healthy, 

 60 or 70 feet in height, with straight stems to first branch. 

 It is impregnated with a resinous, highly scented juice 

 or gum, which the natives draw from the stems, called 

 ral, which is like pitch, and is put to similar uses. The 

 timber will stand the severe changes of heat and moisture 

 better than most other timbers. 



I will now describe a day in the Bhabar. We start on 

 a single pad elephant from Haldwani, on the southward 

 road, to Bareilly at the foot of the hills. Haldwani was 

 an oasis in the dry Bhabar, for here had been constructed 

 by the paternal Government of Kumaon straight canals, 

 leading from the hills, which carry the life-giving fluid 

 for irrigating great tracts of the Bhabar reclaimed from 

 the forest, where, thanks to the kind old Commissioner 

 Ramsay, there were hundreds of acres of cultivation, 

 settled by thriving and industrious Kumaonis. 



The elephant tramps along the edge of the water-course 

 over the gravelly flat, taking the first straight track 

 between flourishing crops, towards the nearest edge of 

 the forest, which stands up to the south-east, a straight 

 line of sal-trees. Soon we enter the jungle, and soon we 

 are lost among the trees and long grass, which the elephant 

 can just force his way through. We keep going eastward, 

 and on goes the elephant with long strides ; truly he has 

 room enough to step out, for the forest extends in an 

 easterly direction by south for over 1,000 miles, with few 

 intervals. The forest gets opener, and the sal -trees, 

 which have been protected by the same good guardian, 

 the Conservator of Forests, for some years, have certainly 

 benefited, some being 40 feet high and growing healthily. 

 There are immense numbers of fine seedlings 20 feet high, 



13—2 



