1850.] Mistmm Districts of the Sozilah of Jlyclrabad, 189 



is the produce of the territory of the Rajah of Nagpore or of his 

 tributaries the Groud Rajahs of Bustar and Bhopalputtem. 



Bhopalputtem at one period yielded almost the whole of the 

 Godavery teak, but of late years it has been getting scarce there. 

 Bustar, though its teak forests have not been wholly untouched, pro- 

 mises to yield for some time a goodly supply, and if that feeder 

 of the Grodavery which issues from the Bustar country could be 

 made available for floating the timber down to the main stream 

 it could be conveyed to the coast at no great outlay, but the in- 

 salubrity of the country is very great for at least eight or nine 

 months of the year, the only period that a European or a Native 

 of the coast could with safety or profit enter the country is be- 

 tween the months of February and June. 



The Dalbergia Latifolia, yielding the black wood, with which 

 chairs, tables, and household furniture generally are made up, is a 

 common tree and is cut down and dressed in the Palooncha and 

 northern pergunnahs of the Kummemmett Sircar from whence it ia 

 transported by Brinjarries on carts to Masulipatam and the eastern 

 coast. This timber is worked easily and looks well, but it is very 

 brittle, and the furniture made of it possesses no great strength 

 or durability. The Natives avoid felling timber while the moon is 

 on the wane, under the impression that when cut at this time it 

 is more apt to rot, and more liable to the attacks of white ants. 

 "With respect to teak this rule is not observed, that tree being cut 

 without reference to the age of the moon, the aromatic oil with 

 which it is impregnated being considered sufficient to protect it 

 from rot and from the ravages of white ants. 



This precaution, may not be so fanciful, as at first sight it would 

 appear, the same influence which so notoriously affects the animal 

 frame possesses in all probability a greater energy when acting on 

 the less perfectly organized vegetable. 



Bchrebera sivieteniodes, the weavers' beam tree, gives a strong 

 timber, not liable to warp, but it is of a dingy colour, and difficult 

 to work from its hardness. It is common. 



Diospyros melanoxylon. — Ebony tree exists in the Grodavery for- 

 ests, but no good or valuable ebony is attainable now, owing to the 

 same causes which effected the extinction of serviceable teak. 



Of the other trees that yield a good timber may be mentioned 

 the Pentaptera, Coriacea, Conocarpus Latifolia, with which axles for 



