KASHMIR AND ASSAM 269 
permit of its circulation to the growing crops, but 
also possesses a power the most economical that 
man can employ, whether he be engaged in simple 
industries that supply the necessaries of life, or in 
more important manufactures that add to the 
national wealth. Yet it is not until the supply of 
this power can be regulated that its full employment 
becomes possible, and ir India most of the rivers are 
at present so uncertain in the volume of water they 
carry that hydro-electric works seem to be secure 
only when a portion of the minimum off-flow is de- 
pended upon, and it will need much careful work 
before in India, as in France, every jet of water 
capable of driving a sewing-machine is harnessed for 
the benefit of an industrious population. 
The forests of Kashmir have for long been in 
charge of an officer of the Indian Forest Service, 
who worked under the orders of the Durbar, and 
received his salary from that body. He was there- 
fore not free to introduce such reforms as he con- 
sidered advisable, and, indeed, was frequently 
hampered professionally—for instance, by the dis- 
taste of Hindu rulers to interfere with the grazing 
of cattle, or by their desire to sacrifice too much to 
the collection of a large revenue; yet in spite of 
these drawbacks much good work had been done in 
protecting the forests and bringing them under 
regular working. 
The deodar cedar is the most striking tree of the 
Kashmir hills, as the plane and poplar are of its 
valley. The former is first met with on the drive 
along the Jhelam road, some marches out of Bara- 
mula, and it extends across the watershed of the 
