CEYLON 309 
growth of the forest, varies from 150 to 45 inches, 
according ‘to locality, and the mean temperature 
between 79° and 82° F., air moisture being constant 
at from 80° to 85°. It may be inferred, therefore, 
that the forests are evergreen, and that the crops 
and other vegetation grow with marvellous rapidity. 
There are over 500 different kinds of marketable 
trees, the most valuable being satinwood and ebony, 
so that forestry might be deemed to be a profitable 
undertaking; but here again the forester has 
arrived too late, and must occupy himself with 
saving a remnant for the State. 
It is probable that in no other country in the 
world can so large a continuous area of shifting 
cultivation be found as in Ceylon, and it is more 
than probable that the vast areas of poor scrub 
jungle that are everywhere noticeable consist but of 
the secondary growth of the magnificent evergreen 
forest whose huge stems may now and again be 
observed in those places that have escaped the axe 
and fire of the wandering cultivator. Nor was it 
till comparatively recent years that the Government, 
recognizing at last the value of the forest, desisted 
from selling the best portions thereof at prices often 
much less than the value of the standing timber, 
and without reference to climatic and economic con- 
siderations ; so that since 1883, when systematic 
forestry was introduced, the work of the forester 
has been hampered by the want of an adequate staff, 
by the wasteful customs of the country, by oppo- 
sition from vested interests that had been allowed 
to spring up, and in consequence little progress has 
been made towards the object in view. 
