INTRODUCTOEY 27 



was, however, still left in the remoter forests, where 

 communications were not so easy; and the forests, if 

 properly taken in hand, might have yielded a steady 

 supply of large timber for many years. But unfortu- 

 nately the grave mistake was now made of announcing 

 that after a certain time the forests would be brought 

 under Government management and strictly conserved. 

 This was the death-blow to the remainder of the Teak 

 throughout the northern parts of the tract. The railway 

 contractors, and numerous speculators, foreseeing the 

 value that timber was likely to acquire, owing to railway 

 operations and the closing of the forests, then went into 

 the jungles with bags of rupees in their hands, and spread 

 them broadcast among the wild tribes, with instructions 

 to slay and spare not — ^to fell every Teak tree larger than 

 a sapfing that they could find, and mark them with their 

 peculiar mark. It was only too faithfully done ; and 

 scarcely anything that was accessible, escaped the axe. 

 Now came delay in the railway works, failure of the con- 

 tractors, and want of money. The cut timber was aban- 

 doned wholesale where it lay. Teak wood is full of oil, 

 and burns readily after lying for a short time. The jungle 

 fires occurred as usual in the long dry grass where the 

 logs were lying, and the great majority of them were 

 burnt ! The exact amount of the destruction can never 

 be known. For years afterwards, when exploring in the 

 forests, we continued to come on the charred remains of 

 multitudes of these slaughtered innocents, most of them 

 being quite immature and unfit for felling at any time. All 

 that were worth anything were saved by the Forest Depart- 

 ment in after years, and the value even of these amounted 

 to many lacs of rupees. They were not a hundredth part 

 of those that were cut, which should probably be reckoned 

 by milUons rather than thousands. The injury done to 

 the forests and to the country by this most mistaken 

 measure may never be recovered ; certainly it cannot be 

 recovered in less than two generations of the people's life. 

 ■Such was one of the most material results of the utter 

 ignorance of the administrative officers of that period 

 regarding everything connected with the wilder portions 



