54 SECOND REPORT ON FOREST OPERATIONS 



it from the Colongode Numbudy. This I succeeded in getting 

 at 40 rupees per 100 kolls, all first-class planks, which, consider- 

 ing the market rate on the Malabar coast is now Es. 65 per 

 100 kolls, I consider was purchased at a favourable rate. The 

 cost of this timber forms an item in my annual expenditure, but 

 will be refunded by the gun-carriage manufactory. Late in 

 the season I felled thirty-nine blackwood trees in the Govern- 

 ment forest, which yielded 2430 cubic feet, now stored in the 

 forest. 



4. The Malsar tribe, inhabiting the foot of the Anamalai 

 Hills, took contracts to supply me with vella naga (Conocarpus 

 latifolia) and ven-tek (Lagerstrcemia microcarpa), two timbers 

 required by Colonel Maitland for the gun-carriage manufac- 

 tory. They cut about 2000 cubic feet of the former and 1500 

 cubic feet of the latter timber. Of this, about 2000 is of the di- 

 mensions and quality required by the gun-carriage manufactory, 

 and the remainder can be sold at the annual auction. 



5. This tribe have been very useful during last season, as I 

 could not otherwise have procured axemen for this work. The 

 Malsars have hitherto done nothing in the forest but prepare 

 elephant ropes from the " vaca nar" (Sterculia villosa), assist in the 

 clearing of brushwood, and repair of roads, &c, for which they 

 are paid daily hire. This season I found them willing to take 

 contracts for the supply of the above timber, though they often 

 would not come up to work in the forest for daily wages. I 

 could not procure the services of any of this tribe for the usual 

 repairs to the forest roads, and was obliged to contract for the 

 same with the "Wudders, who are an unsatisfactory tribe to deal 

 with ; they will only work by contract, and two-thirds invariably 

 run away when they have received their advances. They also 

 suffer more from fever than the Malsars.- I had great difficulty 

 in getting the roads repaired before the carting commenced: 

 hitherto the Malsars have performed this work, but I could 

 not persuade them to give their services this season. They 

 seemed under the impression that they were not allowed to work 

 in the forest even if they wished ; and sometimes I bad great 

 difficulty in procuring the necessary supply of elephant rope from 

 them. 



