202 HEDGES. 



by stealth, so that the community is a great sufferer. The people 

 who tend the cattle seem to be sent rather with a view to pre- 

 vent them from straying, than to keep them from destroying the 

 crops ; at least, I saw many instances of most culpable neglect." 

 It is remarked, in " Colebrooke's Husbandry of Bengal," that 

 " the old laws of the Hindus gave redress for the trespasses of 

 cattle in enclosed fields, but not in unfenced lands, unless the 

 transgressions were wilful on the part of the herdsman, or of the 

 owner. Unfortunately these laws seem to be now obsolete." 



Again, in reference to lihe Experimental Cotton Farm at Gorak- 

 pur, Mr Eeade, then collector, affirmed, that " the pest of this place 

 is countless cattle, whose pertinacity and agility in overcoming 

 fences is proportionate to their cupidity of Mr Blount's cotton 

 plants." — House of Commons Return. — Indian Cotton Cultivation. 



These remarks were written regarding two districts of the 

 Bengal Presidency ; but they are so descriptive of parts of 

 S. India, that they have been introduced here. "We have wit- 

 nessed serious depredations from sacred buffaloes, which, owned 

 by no master (though attached to particular temples), pasture 

 where they may, unchecked in their trespasses, till they attain 

 the age for sacrifice. 



Indigenous to S. India, we have of Acacia* and Mimosa 

 (about 30 species) : — Zizyphus (4 sp.), Carissa (several sp.), 

 besides Toddalia aculeata (Pers) and Pterolobium lacerans (K.Br.), 

 Azima tetracantha (Lam.), Scutia Indica, (L.), and a host of other 

 armed plants, more or less widely diffused : these often grow 

 interlaced in thickets, or surround the clumps of jungle like a 

 fringe, presenting a chevaux defrise, which is almost impassable, 

 especially when a dense tangled underwood has followed a forest 

 conflagration. With such abundant materials at hand, it is 

 somewhat remarkable that advantage has not been taken of this 

 provision of nature. The few hedges observed by travellers 



* One of the most remarkable is, Acacia latronum (W.), common in the 

 barren tracts, armed with large stipulary thorns, united at the base. 

 Linnseus designated it, " Frutex horridissimus, ramosissimm ; " it is well 

 entitled to this distinction. It is known amongst Europeans as the " Robber 

 Thorn," from relieving the cotton bullocks of their load as they pass through 

 the jungle. 



