SCENERY AND SUPERFICIAL ASPECTS OF THE COUNTRY. 9 



the Sub-Himalayan forests are under Government, and yield a large 



revenue to the State. They are managed directly by the Forest 



Department, which looks after the maintenance and working of them. 



The principal tree which thrives in this area is the Sal (Shorea 



robusta). It is a large tree, with broad, shining 

 The Sal tree. ... _ __ ... 



leaves, and allied to the Copal ( Vatena indica) 



and the Lac-tree {Shorea lacciferd) of West India and Mysore, 

 respectively. It is also of the same family as the Wood-oil trees 

 (Dipterocarpus) of Burma, and the Camphor-tree of Sumatra and 

 Borneo. It ranges everywhere from the plains immediately at the 

 foot of the hills up to heights averaging 3,000 feet. It sometimes forms 

 almost pure forests, which grow with great vigour on the light sandy 

 soils of these hills; but more often it is mixed with several other less 

 valuable trees. On wide open chaors, either flat or gently sloping, 

 but still out of reach of the river floods, it flourishes ; but it shuns clayey 

 ill-drained soils and steep country, and at great heights it becomes use- 

 less as timber. The wood of the Sal is very durable, though taking a 

 long time to season, and apt to split and warp. It is largely used for 

 building purposes and for railway sleepers. From a commercial 

 point of view, it is the useful tree of the Sub-Himalayan zone, and 

 supplies the place of the Teak of Burma and the Deodar of the 

 higher Himalaya. 



Just as the dark shining green of the Sell is the most conspicuous 

 The Sissoo and the object on the flatter slopes and chaors, so the 

 Khalr - dry river-beds, wherever they possess low banks 



and islands composed of hardly-reclaimed recent gravel and alluvium, 

 give us the well-known forms of the Sissoo or Shisham (Dalbergia 

 Sissoo) and the thorny Khair {Acacia Catechu), Unlike the Sal, 

 which is never quite leafless, these trees are bare and brown during 

 the cold-weather months, causing the white stony stream-beds to 

 have a death-like, forsaken appearance. But in March and April 

 they all burst into leaf, and light up the islands and banks with a pale- 

 green tint, which contrasts strongly with the sombre colour of the 

 dark Sdl forest above and with the bright-red flowers of the Dhdk- 



( e? ) 



