PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 



9 



ready to pierce through breeches and socks, and rankle in one's flesh. 

 There is probably no sportsman who has not anathematised this grass, 

 and though an Indian geologist is wellknown as long-suffering and of 

 many virtues, I question whether there is one who could plead " not 

 guilty " of having consigned it to the region of Pluto. 



Everywhere there is an abundance of coppice and jungle, but there are 



very few blocks of fair-sized timber. During the 

 Coppice. . 



construction of the Great Indian Peninsular Rail- 

 way, the contractors for sleepers who rented the forests from the late 

 Maharaja of Rewah, Raguraj Sing, cut and hacked mercilessly ; and 

 now some years will have to elapse before the trees that are growing 

 acquire useful dimensions. Of late, attempts have been made to induce 

 the native Hef-holders to conserve woodlands, but they look upon the 

 suggestions laid before them as subtle traps to eventually deprive them 

 of their forest rights. 



In view of the construction of the railway from Katni to Umaria, and 

 Scarcity of large tim- ^s future extension to Bilaspur, it would have 

 " er * been very convenient had there been a supply of 



ready-grown trees fit for sleepers ; and though the requirements of mining 

 are less exacting, the existence of timber land near at hand would be of 

 great consideration in estimating the advantages of a given coal-field. 

 The most universal forest tree is the Shorea robusta or Save, and it 

 Habit of Shorearobusta grows in all situations, but, as is wellknown, it is 

 and Boswelha. not; a ] over 0 f £ ra p Y ock, and avoids those soils in 



which the special constituents of trappean matter preponderate. Its 



place in this instance is taken by Boswellia or Sale, and so frequently 



is this a significant circumstance, that I have often been led to the 



discovery of some dyke or run of trap by noticing the presence of this 



tree. Probably there are many affections of this sort, but this is the 



only useful one that I know of to the geologist. 



Bamboos, which are invaluable for numberless purposes, occur in and 



near to the plateau to the south ; also in the neigh- 

 Bamboos. 



bourhood of Bandogarh, and along the banks of 

 the Johilla and the Son. Then sparsely in the eastern portion of the 



( U5 ) 



