INDIA, BURMA, AND ANDAMAN ISLANDS 181 
" teak forests " as such are unknown — hence the difficulties 
of getting the wood are great, and as the forests nearer the 
rivers get worked out the time and labour experienced in 
getting teak increases ; in many cases logs have to be 
dragged for miles overland by elephants before they reach 
the stream or choung which leads to the main river down 
which they may have to be rafted for a thousand miles ; 
many of these choungs are dry for seven months of the 
year, and the timber can only be taken down in the rains, so 
that a scanty rainy season means a bad floating season and 
consequently a short supply. This difficulty in extraction 
accounts for the high price of Kangoon teak. An idea of 
the scattered disposition of teak timber may be gathered 
from the fact that although in Burma alone there are 
120,000 square miles of forest, according to the report of 
the Forest Administration (1904-5), only 218,466 tons of 
50 cubic feet were extracted in that year; each square mile 
of forest only produced If tons, or equal to about one tree 
per two square miles. 
The method of seasoning teak when standing has been 
practised in Burma from time immemorial; it is called 
" girdling." A notch is cut right round the tree and as low 
as possible, through the sapwood and about an inch into the 
heartwood, so as to completely sever connection between 
bark and sap ; it is then allowed to stand exposed to the action 
of wind and sun for three years or longer before it is felled. 
No tree under 6 fc. girth is allowed to be girdled. From 
the day the tree is girdled until it is lifted on to the saw 
bench at liangoon or Moulmein four and a half years are 
always allowed to elapse, and in some cases a much longer 
time. The felling and seasoning arrangements are supervised 
by an officer of the Forestry Department. Teak is strictly 
preserved by the Government and either cut by them, or 
the different forests are leased out to timber firms for a 
