KUMARI CULTIVATION. 133 



stated, had in 1843 issued a proclamation, directing that five 

 valuable kinds of timber, viz., teak, pun, blackwood, jack, and 

 sandal, should be preserved in ike Government forests ; but this, 

 Mr Blane states, had practically no effect, inasmuch as the 

 timber-merchants continued to fell the timber wherever they 

 found it, on the plea that they cut it from private jungles, and 

 had obtained the permission of the owners to do so. To defeat 

 this subterfuge, Mr Blane had directed that when jungle is 

 claimed as private property, the right must be established before 

 timber is cut. The clearance of the jungle, so injurious in many 

 respects, had been attended with one great advantage. According 

 to all reports, it had diminished the prevalence of fever. ' On 

 this account principally, he confined his recommendation to the 

 confirmation of his prohibition of the felling of the five superior 

 kinds of timber, and to the preservation of the jungle in spots 

 near the rivers on the sea coast, where, from its position, the 

 timber would be easily made available, and the inferior kinds of 

 wood might be allowed, under proper regulation, to be cut as 

 firewood for export.' " 



" 8. On this report being laid before Government, they, agree- 

 ably to the recommendation of the Board, authorised the collector 

 of Canara to restrict the cultivation of Kumari to ' such places and 

 to such an extent as might, in his opinion, be expedient for the 

 preservation of the forest and the general welfare of the pro- 

 vince.' He was also instructed to assert the right of Govern- 

 ment to all forest lands to which a title cannot be clearly estab- 

 lished by private individuals."* 



" 43. The Kumari in Bekal has been shown to be peculiar. It is 

 chiefly Wargadar Kumari, and the extent of land for which the 

 shist is paid is specified in the pattah, and the wargadar enjoys 

 twelve times as much, on the supposition that he will go over 

 the whole once in twelve years, though he now cultivates it more 

 quickly. 



" Since the discussion has commenced, cultivation within three 

 miles of the coast, and three of the banks of the river, has been 

 prohibited ; a rule which Mr Fisher thinks operates with harsh- 

 ness in a country which is everywhere intersected by rivers. 



* E. M. C. of G.. 3d Deo. ; in Con., 16th Dee. 1847, No. 3226, par. 3. 



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