96 



service, who might choose to come to Europe on furlough, would be able to increase their 

 professional knowledge by studying forest management and other subjects connected with 

 forests in Great Britain and on the continent. A number of officers have availed them- 

 selves of these arrangements, and, some of their reports have been published. 



Of these, that by Captain Walker, and that of M. Gustav Mann, I have largely used 

 elsewhere, as the reader will have observed. 



" At the moment of our writings," says the author of a report from which I have 

 obtained much, presented to the U. S. congress in 1874, "the public journals are giving 

 most painful accounts of the distress in India from famine. From a careful study of this 

 subject we cannot doubt that this calamity is due to the fact that the forests have, of late 

 years, been swept oflf by demand for railroad and other uses much more rapidly than for- 

 merly, and that the exposure to winds and sun, thus occasioned, may have largely con- 

 tributed to th§se painful results. The remedies are to be sought in the restoration of that 

 due proportion of forest-shade upon which agriculture depends for success. If the officers 

 to whom the opportunities for European observation fall, improve them as well as some 

 reported by Captain Walker, we may reasonably hope for a radical though not an imme- 

 diate restoration of abundant harvests throughout the vast countries of India." 



Now, since this was written, we have Sir Richard Temple's valuable book, " India in 

 1880," which I have noticed before. This gives us some idea of what has been commenced, 

 by the gentlemen who have been writing the reports we have used. He says : — 



" The Government of India has enacted a law regulating all matters connected with, 

 forest conservancy, and the provisions of this law are being carried into effect by the sev- 

 eral local governments. The forests are divided into two categories ; first, those which 

 are 'reserved,' being preserved and worked through state agency, in a most complete 

 manner ; secondly, those which are ' protected,' being preserved less thoroughly. The 

 best timber markets are mainly supplied from the ' reserved ' forests. Care has been taken 

 to determine what tracts shall be ' reserved ' and ' protected,' and to mark off their boun- 

 daries. The area thus defined in the several provinces already, or likely to be defined ere 

 long, will prove to be hardly less than eighty thousand square miles for the whole empire. 

 The primary object of the administration is to preserve the forests for the sake of the 

 country. Due attention is also given to the financial out-turn ; much income is already 

 secured. The expenditure is over five hundred thousand pounds annually, but the. 

 receipts amount to nearly seven hundred thousand, and in time the forest department will 

 have a prosperous revenue. 



"The superior officers of the department are for the most part British, trained in the- 

 forest schools of France and Germany. The Inspector General of Forests with the Gov- 

 ernment of India is Dr. D. Brandis, whose services to the empire have been conspicuous, 

 in organizing a system of forestry which is sound and scientific, and is yet adapted to the 

 circumstances of the country. Instructions in forestry is afforded to natives also ; forest 

 schools are established for them, and in time they will take a large share of the adminis- 

 trative work. 



"As might be expected, the system of forest conservancy, though generally accepted, 

 by the natives who dwell near the ' reserved ' and the ' protected ' tracts, is sometimes op- 

 posed by them. There must always be some danger lest the foresters should, in their zeal 

 for conservancy, infringe upon the prescriptive rights of the inhabitants. The local civil 

 authorities are vigUant and prompt in asserting and vindicating the rights of the people 

 in this respect ; for the recognition of which rights, indeed, ample provision is made by 

 the law. They should, however, be careful to support the forest officers in the execution 

 of duties which are of the utmost consequence to the welfare of the country. Many of 

 the hill tribes habitually burn patches of valuable forest, in order that the ashes may so ■ 

 fertilize the virgin soil as to render it capable of producing a crop without tillage. Hav- 

 ing reaped one harvest, they leave the spot marked by charred stumps of timber trees,, 

 and move on to repeat the same ravage elsewhere. This barbarous and wastefully des- 



