THE TEAK REGION 175 



scantlings by the saw, as it is an undoubted fact that 

 forests yield a larger aggregate supply of timber when the 

 trees are allowed to mature. The argument is one of a 

 sort too readily applied to many Indian subjects. Theo- 

 retically it is true enough, and in the distant future it 

 may be realised. But in the meantime the people have 

 not the capital wherewith to do it, even if the large timber 

 were growing ready for them, which it is not. 



Of other trees than teak these forests produce a great 

 variety, some producing highly ornamental woods for 

 fancy purposes, others useful in the arts, and a good rQany, 

 when fully matured and seasoned, capable of almost 

 supplanting teak for ordinary building purposes. The 

 useful sorts, however, on the whole, bear a very low 

 proportion to the great mass for which no general use has 

 as yet been found. Round the settlements the valuable 

 sorts have mostly been exterminated; and such parts 

 as are not actually under tillage are covered with a scrub 

 composed of such thorny species as Acacia Arabica, A. 

 catechu, Zizyphus Jujuba, and others. It is remarkable, 

 I think, how the thorny species, which are the best armed 

 to resist destruction, have thus won the race for life in 

 such tracts. 



Vast areas, again, do not produce, and do not seem 

 to be capable of producing, any species but such as are, 

 from the softness of their timber, almost useless to the 

 carpenter. A typical example of such a tract is found 

 in the upper valley of the Tapti river, a river which forms 

 so good an example of the streams of this region as to be 

 worthy of some description. Rising among the western 

 spurs of the Mahadeo range, it flows for a short distance 

 over the level plateau of the Betill district, in a shallow 

 channel, which, in the hot season, forms a chain of silent 

 pools fringed by great Kowa trees and by the thick green 

 cover of Jaman and Karonda, in which tigers delight to 

 dwell. The surrounding country in this part of its course 

 is partially cleared and cultivated with rice and sugar- 

 cane. Presently, however, it commences its descent 

 towards the level of the lower plains, plunging into a glen 

 riven through the basalt, and assumes the character of a 



