xx] INDIAN TEAK. 115 
the greater the length, the greater is the difficulty of 
moving and getting them out of the forests to the streams, 
and the increased danger when there of entanglement 
in the short bends of the water-courses. Another is, 
that the long logs were, until quite lately, liable to some 
trifling duty; while upon the short pieces coming from 
the forests, no charge whatever was levied on their arrival . 
at Moulmein. 
It is the practice in Burmah to girdle the Teak trees 
three years before they intend to fell them; a complete 
ring of the bark and sapwood being cut through and 
removed in order to kill the tree. This object is very 
soon obtained, as in a few days, or at most a few weeks, 
the tree is dead ; the natural juices contained in it are, 
therefore, gradually run off by the root while the tree 
stands. This and the great heat of the climate com- 
bined, seasons the wood, and renders the log—which, in 
its green state would have a specific gravity of at least _ 
1'000, and be difficult to move if felled—so much lighter 
that it floats easily over the shallows of the streams or 
rivers to the port of shipment. And as usually about a 
year elapses between the felling and the delivery of the 
timber in England, it is commonly received in a fit state 
for immediate use. 
The practice of girdling is, I think, objectionable, 
inasmuch as the timber dries too rapidly, is liable to 
become brittle and inelastic, and leads frequently to the 
loss of many fine trees by breakage in falling ; further, 
it must be regarded as so much time taken from the 
limit of its duration, which is of great importance. 
Girdling has been discontinued in the Annamallay 
forests of Malabar, under the impression that it causes, 
or at least extends, the heart-shake; it is, however, 
practised in Cochin, Travancore, and a few other places ; 
