THE MAHADEO HII.LS 83 



of these — ^peafowl, partridges, hares, etc. — are often 

 trapped in ingenious "deadfall" traps set in runs left 

 open on purpose; and the larger are frequently shot by 

 the sportsmen of the community. None of the Gonds of 

 the Central Hills now use the bow and arrow; but few 

 villages are without their professional hunter, who is 

 generally a capital shot with his long heavy matchlock, 

 and as patient as a cat in watching for game. He usually 

 takes it in turn to sit up at night in all the dhya clearings 

 of the village, getting as remuneration all that he kills, 

 and a basket of grain at harvest time besides. The skins 

 of sambar are of considerable value in the market for 

 making the well-known soft yellow leather — ^the best of all 

 materials for sporting leggings and other accoutrements. 



The abandoned dhya clearings are speedily covered 

 again with jungle. The second growth is, however, very 

 different from the \drgin forest destroyed by the first 

 clearing; being composed of a variety of low and very 

 densely growing bamboo, and of certain thorny bushes, 

 which together form in a year or two a cover almost 

 impenetrable to man or beast. I have often been obliged 

 to turn back from such a jungle after vainly endeavouring 

 to force through it a powerful elephant accustomed to 

 work his way through difl&cult cover. In such a thicket 

 no timber tree can ever force its way into daylight ; and a 

 second growth of timber on such land can never be ex- 

 pected if left to nature. The scrub itself does not furnish 

 fuel enough for a sufficient coating of ashes to please the 

 dhya cutter; and so the latter never again returns to an 

 old clearing while untouched forest land is to be had. 

 Now, if it be considered that, for untold ages, the aboriginal 

 inhabitants have been thus devastating the forests, the 

 cause of the problem that has puzzled railway engineers 

 — namely, why, in a country with so vast an expanse of 

 forest-covered land, they should yet have to send to 

 England, or Australia, or Norway for their sleepers — will 

 not be far to seek. Stand on any hill-top on the Puch- 

 murree or other high range, and look over the valleys 

 below you — ^the dhya clearings can be easily distmguished 

 from tree jungle — ^and you will see that for one acre left 



