TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 1121 
large—always toilsome, often perilous—which has been accomplished, quite apart 
from and in quantity far exceeding the non-graphical and more purely scientific 
work which I have been describing. Its magnitude and variety are such that a 
mere list of the officers who have taken prominent shares in it, from first to last, 
would be too long to read to you. Three names, however, I must mention: first, 
that of General Sir Henry Thuillier, who became Surveyor-General on the same 
day that I succeeded to the superintendence of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, 
and with whom I had the honour of co-operating for many years; under his 
administration a much larger amount of topography was executed than under any 
of his predecessors, and a great impetus was given to the lithographic, photo- 
graphic, engraving and other offices in which the maps of the survey are published; 
secondly, that of Colonel Sconce, who became Deputy Surveyor-General soon after 
my accession in 1878 to the Surveyor-Generalship, and with whom I was associated 
for some years, much to my gratification and advantage, in various matters, but 
more particularly in the establishment of cadastral surveys on a professional basis 
at a moderate cost, to render them more generally feasible, which was a matter of 
the utmost importance for the administration of the more highly populated por- 
tions of the British provinces ; and thirdly, that of Lieutenant-Colonel Waterhouse, 
who has for many years superintended the offices in which photography is em- 
ployed, in combination with zincography and lithography, for the speedy repro- 
duction en masse of the maps of the Survey, and has done much to develop the art 
of photogravure, whereby drawings in brushwork and mezzotint may be reproduced 
with a degree of excellence rivalling the best copperplate engraving, and almost as 
speedily and cheaply as drawings in pen and ink work are reproduced by photo- 
zincography. 
Mr. Clements Markham’s Memoir on the Indian Surveys gives the best account 
yet published of the several graphical surveys up to the year 1878. In that year 
the Trigonometrical, the Topographical, and the Revenue branches, which up to 
that time had constituted three separate and almost independent departments, 
were amalgamated together into what is now officially designated ‘the Survey of 
India.’ In the same year the chronicle so well commenced by Mr. Markham came 
to an end on his retirement from the India office—unfortunately, for it is a work of 
excellence in object and in execution, and most encouraging to Indian surveyors, 
who find their labours recorded in it with intelligent appreciation and kindly 
recognition. 
During the present meeting, several papers by officers of the Survey will be read 
—one by Colonel Barron, in person, on the cadastral surveys in the organization of 
which he has taken a leading share; by Major Baird, on the work of the spirit- 
levelling which he superintends conjointly with the tidal observations; by Colonel 
Godwin-Austen, on Lieutenant-Colonel Woodthorpe’s recent journey from Upper 
Assam to the Irawadi river; by Colonel Branfill, on the physical geography of 
Southern India; and by Colonel Tanner, on portions of the Himalayas and on 
recent explorations in Southern Tibet. Major Bailey will also read a paper on the 
forest surveys. 
The following Papers were read :-— 
1. The Indian Forest Survey. By Major F. Battery, R.H., F.R.G.S. 
It is only in comparatively recent times that measures have been undertaken 
to preserve what remained of the great Indian forests. The first thing to do was 
to demarcate the tracts which were to be reserved and to free them as far as 
possible from rights. The area now reserved is about 48,000 square miles, or about 
3 per cent. of the total area of British India, not including the native states. 
The tracts demarcated owe their immunity from destruction either to the fact that 
they occupy ground which was, in the absence of communications, inaccessible, or 
which is much broken, or cannot be irrigated. They are situated either in the 
plains or on the low ranges of hills rising from them, or on the lower or middle 
1885. 4c 
