THE BORI FOREST 309 



fronds of lovely delicate tree-ferns. This is the con- 

 tinuation of the Seoni hills, where Rudyard Kipling has 

 laid the scene of his inimitable jungle stories. Stretching 

 away in the hazy distance one can discern nothing but 

 unbroken forest, range after range of timber-clad undula- 

 tions, and to the horizon still dense forest. 



Beneath our feet yawns the caiion of Andeh Ko. 

 Another crevasse, called Jambo-dwip, lies below Pach- 

 mari. To the west lies the Bori forest reserve. To 

 climb down the steep path by a narrow channel cut in the 

 rock is by no means an easy task, but just possible for 

 a hill pony. Elephants, lightly laden with tent and a few 

 necessaries, took several hours in getting down as many 

 miles, holding on like monkeys and balancing themselves 

 on ledges of the steep rock. 



We are entering one of those strange depressions, 

 appearing to have no entrance and no apparent exit, 

 which geologists cannot explain. It widens out into a 

 broad valley with almost level bottom, and high walls of 

 rock stand on every side. Lower down a beautiful river 

 of clear water winds across the shingly flats. Here grow 

 large forest trees of great variety and beauty — sagwan 

 (teak), siassa (rosewood)*, saj, bjjasal,t and arjun| with 

 smooth white pillar-like stem towering to a great height. 

 There are great clumps of feathery bamboos and beautiful 

 groves of sissoo ;§ also, standing alone and rising head and 

 shoulders above the others, towers the great semal,|| with 

 its extraordinary buttresses. Here is a typical Indian 

 forest, which appears untouched by the devastating hand 

 of man. The complete exclusion of jungle fires, which had 



* Dalbergia latifolia. 



t Pterocarpus inarsupiutn, which yields the gum kino of commerce. 



X ' Kahua,' Terminalia arjuna. 



^ Dalbergia sissoo. 



II Bombax heptaphylbtm. 



