1837.] Journal of a Trip to the Burenda Pass in 1836. 903 



so much vaunted beauty of this forest, will have passed away. The 

 demand for good timber, for the purposes of building, since Simla 

 became a resort for invalids, has been so great, that the needy and 

 money-loving Ranas, have turned the gigantic beauties of the forest, 

 to account, and many places are beginning to look quite bare and 

 naked from the constant drain upon them. 



It is more than probable, if this destruction continues, that in a few 

 years the forest will be ruined ; for it is a curious and melancholy 

 fact, that but very few young trees are springing up to supply the 

 places of the parent stock. 



Many fine trees are also destroyed by the practice of setting fire to 

 the jangal grass, for the turpentine which exudes so plentifully from 

 the pine trees, immediately takes fire and the bark of the tree is de- 

 stroyed at the base. The consequence is that rain finds a lodgment and 

 rots the outer wood, which having become soft is immediately disco- 

 vered and attacked by insects, and the tree in a short time withers and 

 falls. Hundreds of these trees as also many fine oaks are to be seen in 

 every stage of disease, both standing and fallen, and almost all arising 

 in the first instance from the fire having injured or destroyed the bark 

 around the base. 



In this stage, stage-beetles 3 , Capricorn beetles* and also the click 

 beetles 8 whose larvae are nourished in decaying trees, are all busy in 

 completing what the fire has commenced, and even a species of snail* 

 contributes much to the ultimate ruin of the sturdy oak by boring 

 into every hole and crevice and reducing the fibre of the wood to the 

 consistency of moist sawdust. 



It is upon such trees that the woodpeckers, in search of insects 

 within, bore innumerable holes, and although they are labouring with 

 the laudable intent of destroying the hidden foe, yet they also in no 

 small degree hasten the decay of the wood, by boring so many fresh 

 inlets for the rain and snow. 



It must be remembered however, that these much abused birds 

 never attack a sound and healthy tree, and their share in the de- 

 struction of a decaying one, may be forgiven, on the certaintv 

 of its being destroyed even without their aid, by the insects already 

 within it. 



The highest peak of Mahdssd is 9140 feet above the level of the 



sea ; but the Devi temple, past which the road runs, is only 9078 



feet, after which the road gradually descends for about two miles 



through the forest to Fdgii> where there is a small bungalow of one 



5 y 2 



