FOREST CLEARINGS. Jl 



wherever most convenient (along the bank of a 

 stream, &c.), and starting from one corner of this, 

 so many chains are measured off at right angles as 

 may be required for the first side due north per- 

 haps, according to the lay of the land, and bearing 

 in mind that it is always preferable to have the 

 clearings full face to the wind rather than turned 

 partially from it, so as to prevent the monsoons 

 enfilading them. When a sufficient distance has 

 been done for one side the line is continued at right 

 angles so many chains for a further boundary, and 

 then once again to the original base. For this 

 operation, which requires only slight proficiency 

 in the surveyor's craft, the planter needs two coolies 

 (intelligent ones should be selected) to handle the 

 measuring chain, another for the compass, and 

 half-a-dozen, perhaps, of strong men with billhooks 

 well sharpened who go on ahead and lop down the 

 underwood, making a rough path for the English- 

 man, and " blazing" the trees i.e., cutting outstrips 

 of bark when he has been along with his instru- 

 ments and authenticated the direction. Many a 

 long day has the writer spent in this manner, and 

 enjoyed the broaching of quiet valleys that no foot 

 but the silent sambour's had ever trodden before, 

 and the pioneering of shady hollows that had kept 

 their repose unbroken since the beginning. Such 

 a wealth of tree fern and pendant creeper swings 

 overhead, and the silent birds of the forest we 

 have noticed most forms of animal life are silent 



