FORESTERS’ LIFE IN THE ANDAMANS 205 
starvation in the midst of that plenty which Nature 
has provided. 
The inhabitants of Rutland Island are a finer 
race; they come over the sea in open canoes to 
declare allegiance to the British Government, and 
return gladly to that seclusion which wild races find 
so necessary to their health and existence. 
The forester finds much to interest him in the 
Andamans, for here is a large area of forest un- 
touched by man, and yet easily accessible from the 
sea, whose tidal creeks, fringed with mangrove, run 
far into the island. It would be difficult to find 
such favourable conditions elsewhere, and the fact 
that Andaman padauk, a timber of a beautiful red 
colour, is available only in these islands confers 
on their owners a monopoly that must enhance the 
value of the wood. The exploration of the North 
Andamans was undertaken only a few years ago by 
the Forest Department, whose work had till then been 
confined to the southern districts in the neighbour- 
hood of the penal settlement ; for it was evident that 
sufficient convict labour was not available to extend 
timber operations to the north, and it was at first 
considered that it would be impossible to have free 
labour in the islands, as this might afford too frequent 
opportunity for escape. It soon came to be realized, 
“however, that there was little ground for this 
objection, for he would be a fortunate man who, 
unprovided with food or the means of obtaining 
it, should cross the pathless forest from south to 
north, and find at the end of his journey caste 
brethren or compatriots who would risk their own 
liberty to afford him a chance of deliverance. 
