176 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA 



moimtain torrent. Here and there it widens out into 

 little bays of level valley land ; but is henceforth, for a 

 hundred miles or so, generally shut in between high banks 

 rising from the edge of its channel. Through these the 

 rapid drainage of the higher hills has cut innumerable 

 narrow channels down to the level of its bed, which spread 

 out above into an interminable series of rocky gullies, 

 seeming in every direction a long succession of rolling 

 basaltic waves. The surface of these tracts has been 

 weathered in places into a penurious soil, bearing multi- 

 tudes of round black boulders of trap, ranging in size 

 from an egg to a small house, and salted over with small 

 white agate splinters, both apparently eliminated from 

 the mother rock in the process of decomposition. This 

 surface is covered with a growth of coarse grass, varying 

 according to the depth of the soil from a few inches to 

 several feet in height, and is studded with small trees, of 

 which ninety-nine in every hundred are the Salei, or 

 frankincense tree {BoswelUa thurifera). 



This tree has hitherto been regarded as a mere incum- 

 brance to the ground. Its timber is soft and spongy, 

 and is certainly valueless for building and such purposes. 

 It has also been rejected as firewood, its specific gravity 

 being so low that a great bulk of it has to be transported 

 in comparison with teak and other hard woods to produce 

 a given effect. Yet it produces excellent charcoal, and 

 is perfectly adapted for most ordinary purposes of fuel; 

 and, wherever the carriage of better sorts from remote 

 parts has rendered their use more expensive, the Salei 

 has been actually used instead. This points to another 

 mistake we have hitherto made in our Indian forestry. 

 Undoubtedly this and other soft wood trees should have 

 been forced into common use by the people as fuel long 

 ago, instead of our giving way to their outcry for hard 

 woods and bamboos, the use of which should be confined 

 to certain special requirements. The BoswelUa possesses 

 other properties, which will probably at some future time 

 render these great desolate tracts of high economical value. 

 It yields a fragrant gum resin, which is burnt as incense in 

 Hindu temples. It was long thought to be the Olibanum 



