76, THE FOREST LANDS OF FINLAND. 
prohibition: of this practice iu the Mysore country will 
drive a, great: many of those who have carried on their 
operations in the forests of that eountry into Canara, and 
the destruction will thus. be carred on more rapidly than 
ever; until the woods are finally exhausted. Independent: 
of these considerations, it is not a pursuit in which it is 
at all desirable:to encourage the people readily to engage’ 
in. It has, no doubt, some attraction for these who are 
impatient of .control, and are fond: of a wild, roving life ;. 
but it leads to:unsettled! habits, and takes many away from: 
the regular cultivation of.a fixed spot.’ 
Mr G. S. Forbes, Sub-Collector of Canara, referred to 
by: Mr Blane, had: written as. follows :— 
‘The third source of consumption I have to mention 
arises from. the cultivation of Koomaree, which, as you are 
aware, is carried: on. upon tracts-where the trees have been 
previously felled. and burned. The value of timber thus 
destroyed by one man, calculating it by the number of 
logs it. might have yielded, is' at least twenty times as 
great as the value of the crop of agi obtained in the two 
years that cultivation is continued’; and’ the amount. of' 
duty which the trees would have yielded if exported as 
firewood, bears. the. same: proportion to the paltry sum 
paid to Government for the clearmg. To abolish this 
species of; cultivation would deprive a great number of 
persons of their accustomed means of support, and I have 
ouly therefore to suggest: that the. cultivation of Koomaree 
be forbidden in all localities where. trees for timber or 
firewood are likely to be felled; such localities may be 
determined by the means of carriage which exist. On 
hills and on tracts:distant from the lines of water carriage, 
the timber consumed could not be turned to any other 
account (it. being: always. understood that no teak or sissoo, 
&c., should be touched.) The above remarks apply chiefly 
to the forests below Ghats, and which extend several miles: 
from the hills towards the sea, and from the Goa boundary 
to the river Tadri, which bounds the Ankola t4luk.’ 
