3o8 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



Stock Exchange when dwellers on the Thames were 

 naked savages in dug-out canoes. The champak-tree* 

 grows near the Cave of Mahadeo. It is celebrated in 

 Oriental poetry, and has a sweet-scented flower sacred 

 to the Hindu deities. Sandal-wood, well known in 

 Indian cabinet work, is from a tree occasionally found in 

 the Satpuras,t but more often in Madras and Mysore. Its 

 scent is very familiar to everyone. There is another 

 minor product from the harra-tree {Terminalia chebula), 

 the fruit of which is used for tanning leather. 



In the Forest Report, Central Provinces, 1898-1899, it is 

 stated that the annual export of harra from these pro- 

 vinces to Bombay is 143,227 tons, and its value 12 annas 

 per maund of 80 pounds. 



Bamboos, of which 9,000,000 were cut in the same year, J 

 constitute a considerable article of use. It has been 

 proved that bamboo pulp produces the very best of paper, 

 so that there is an unlimited field for the cultivation and 

 disposal of this easily-grown product. The list of minor 

 products of these forests includes charcoal and grass, 

 which produce annually a very large revenue. 



The high plateau of the Mahadeo is a great mass of 

 sandstone rock, lying almost horizontal, but denudated 

 by the processes of nature, which have cut away the softer 

 portions, leaving peaks and precipitous bluffs of quaint 

 shapes, with sudden deep chasms between great cliffs, 

 so narrow that they look as if one might almost step 

 across. Down below are caves dark and unexplored, 

 save by Baloo and Bagheera, overhung by the graceful 



* Michelia champaca. 



"f" Santalum albtttn. 



\ Bamboos are floated down to the coast on rafts in enormous 

 quantities, and exported largely. In the teak forest districts the 

 timber, which is too heavy to float, is buoyed up by large bundles of 

 bamboos tied under the rafts. 



