INTEODUCTOEY 25 



account of the system of cultivation of the hill-tribes, 

 who had for centuries devastated the forests, by the 

 cutting and burning of their best timber to form ashes to 

 manure their wretched fields of half-wild grain. This 

 was itself almost sufl&cient to have proved the ruin of the 

 forests, but other causes had not been absent. The most 

 valuable timbers for the railway and other useful purposes 

 are the Teak and the Sal; indeed, no others have been 

 foimd to be really lasting when subjected to the great 

 and sudden variations of an Indian climate. The Teak 

 tree is perhaps the most generally useful in the whole 

 world. In combined strength, lightness, elasticity, and 

 endurance there is none to compare with it. At the 

 present day its uses cover a wider range than those of any 

 other timber, from the handle of an axe in its native forests 

 to the backing of an ironclad in the navy of England. 

 But it is unfortunate also that it is the easiest of all 

 timbers to fell, and makes better firewood and charcoal 

 than any other. It is little wonder, then, that on it 

 almost exclusively, where found, had fallen the weight 

 of the people's requirements, ever since the country was 

 first populated by civihsed tribes. I have already said 

 that it is a most difl&cult tree to reproduce, the seeds 

 being exposed to the extremities of danger before they 

 have the opportunity to germinate. The seedlings also, 

 with their great dried leaves like so many sheets of tinder, 

 are more exposed to injury by fire than those of any 

 other tree. Thus the Teak had everywhere been merci- 

 lessly cut down, and had to struggle with the most adverse 

 circumstances to maintain a footing at all. Over great 

 tracts, where it probably once grew, it has been utterly 

 exterminated, giving place to a " shoddy aristocracy " 

 of such worthless species as the Boswellia, which no one 

 would dream of cutting, and on which nature has bestowed 

 all the indestructible vitality of a weed. The Teak has 

 but one rare and valuable property, by means of which 

 it has alone continued to survive at all in many places. 

 However much it may be cut and hacked, if the root only 

 be left, it will continue to throw up a second growth of 

 shoots, which grow in the course of a few years to the 



