92 TIMBER 
and large and regular shipments from the port of 
Bangkok followed. 
In India the tree from which this fine timber is ob- 
tained is found growing in mixed forests in Central 
and South India and Bombay, but even in far larger 
quantities in the forests of Burma. As before mentioned, 
most of the afforested areas in India are under State 
control, and in the case of Teak rigorous measures 
are taken, not only in regard to the number and girth 
of the trees which are to be felled, but also in the perhaps 
more important question of replanting and establishing 
a continuity of supplies. 
Such trees, for which State authority has been ob- 
tained for felling, are first girdled, a ring of the sap 
right down to the heart-wood being removed from near 
the base of the trunk. This, effectually performed, 
arrests the flow of sap and puts an end to the life of the 
tree. The trunk is then left standing for two years, 
the wood in that period partially drying, and so being 
reduced in weight that it will float on the rivers to 
destinations where it is manufactured into logs for 
export. 
The traction of the great trunks from the forests 
to the rivers in proximity is a task of great magnitude. 
Frequently they have to be hauled long distances over 
rough and practically unmade roads through jungle 
and forest, the work being both arduous and expensive. 
Elephants are largely employed in this heavy work, 
and the sagacity and enormous strength of these animals 
largely alleviate the difficulties of the task. 
On the rivers, swollen by season’s rains, the trunks 
of these trees after being sufficiently reduced in weight 
to float—which they would not do when green—are 
brought down to mills adjacent to ports of shipment. 
Arrived here they are, by means of modern machinery, 
