MADRAS 293 
and so it was good to hear that the collection of 
“mohwa” flower, that is chiefly used in the Nalla- 
mallais for distillation, is now entrusted to the 
Chenchus, who can earn a good wage by bringing it 
into the Government depots, and are allowed to 
retain a certain quantity for home consumption : for 
by this means they are able to maintain their health 
and avoid the temptation of drinking to excess in 
the licensed distilleries in their neighbourhood. 
The history of the treatment of Chenchus has 
been given at length, so that some idea may be 
formed of the work of the Forest Officer in reference 
to wild tribes. Throughout the length and breadth 
of the Peninsula may be found these jungle men, to 
whom the approach of civilization has brought stress 
and trouble hitherto unknown; for their customs 
must be interfered with, and their liberty to some 
extent restricted,'so soon as permanent settlements 
are made in the vicinity of the forests they look 
upon as their own. To make.these changes bear 
less hardly on these simple people, to encourage 
them to accept the advantages that are offered in 
exchange, is not a difficult task when confidence has 
been won and sympathy practically proved. The 
Forest Officer has always excelled in successful 
dealings with the men of the forest, to whom he is 
often the best-known representative of a distant 
Government ; and if it stood alone to the credit of 
the department that it has been the means of 
saving from misery some of these wild tribes, that 
record would be sufficient to justify its existence, 
without writing of the vast forest estate that has 
been saved to the Empire by its exertions. 
