APPENDIX 339 



the saddest result of the fetish set up by British politicians, and 



called ' free trade ' — a fetish which in other matters besides the British free 



destruction of forests all over the world is hastening the inevi- trade influence 



table catastrophe. That it may long be deferred is the fearful 



prayer of all thinking men who have seen the immense destruction 



in the last fifty years of tree and forest life ; the extermination of 



whole species of forest inhabitants, and the rush of so-called 



civilization to appropriate the lands of other people of inferior 



race ; the rapid exhaustion and desertion of the virgin soils 



recently reclaimed from forest : the wasteful burning of coal and •^ policy of 



■' . greed. 



timber, and even straw ; and the diggmg of the gold with frantic 

 haste and subsequent desertion of the gold-fields, left waste and 

 disfigured. 



The greatest question of the twentieth century will be the 

 prevention of food famines and carbon and timber famines. The Famine in the 



, ... ... 1,11,, future where 



devastation of forests which once covered the land, and the ex- forests are 

 travagant waste of Nature's products which has occurred during "^S^'^'*^ • 

 the nineteenth century, must, I think, as population increases and 

 American soil becomes exhausted, bring about such famines, 

 followed by wars of extermination in Europe. 



That an old Indian forest officer, who has seen the result of t j- r 



' Indian forests 



forest destruction in India, should be impressed with such con- successfully 

 siderations, and endeavour to place on record these impressions, 

 is no wonder. He must admire the great work done by the 

 Government of India with a view to develop its teeming resources, 

 including Forest restoration. Already the organization of this 

 department, commenced thirty odd years ago, has laid the founda- 

 tions of vast improvement, financially and economically, as the 

 latest Indian forest report amply shows. 



If these pages prove in any way useful to those who at home 

 or in India desire to study the subject, also if they awaken in 

 the minds of lovers of the forest an increasing interest in forest 

 conservation all over the world, the writer of these recollections 

 will be amply rewarded. 



