OF THE BIJNOUR FOREST. 411 
minor product, nor, though mostly used for construction, is it, strictly 
speaking timber. 
The best charcoal for furnaces, &c, is produced by khalr (2) and bel 
(6); behera (128) and ber (138), furnishing a somewhat less valuable 
article, while the light charcoal of the dhdik (23) and binda (39) was in 
repute in former days when the manufacture of gunpowder was per- 
missible. 
The creed of the natives as to the most important timbers, is sum- 
med up in a local rhyme. 
" Sandan, shisham, sona sal 
Jab chhil hota, nikle lal." 
Which may be paraphrased thus 
" Sandan, shisham and s&l so sound, 
Redness follows the axe all rouud." 
Perhaps as regards redness, strict truth has been here sacrificed? to 
sound, but for quality of timber, it might not have been easy to make 
a better selection. Unfortunately for the Bijnour forest none of the 
timber for excellence is produced in large quantity within its limits. 
Sal (118). The timber of the forests of the N. W. provinces, at some 
distance outside the skirts of the Siwaiika here as all along this tract 
for hundreds of miles to the eastward, only exists in isolated strips and 
patches. .In these the trees never grow to any great size, but appear to 
be arrested at an early stage of their development, when according to 
several authorities, they become rotten and hollow without apparent 
cause. 
In the Bijnour forest there are three principal strips of sal : one- m 
the east beyond Kehur, another towards the centre in the Burrapoora 
district, and the third and largest to the westward in Chandee. In the 
last the trees appear to thrive better than in the other two 
places, in accordance with what has been observed elsewhere, 
— viz. : that sal prefers a high, dry and gravelly site. In these 
three situations as in other places the tree grows gregariously, and very 
large numbers of young plants may be observed in some parts. An im- 
mense proportion of these however must perish from the jungle-fires by 
which the tall grass is burnt down several times each year, to allow the 
fresh young herbage to come up for pasture. Whether or not the state- 
ment be true that the young trees absolutely rot at a certain stage, it is 
certain that for many years no sal larger than to form moderate-sized 
poles {balli) have been taken from this forest. 
The following are the other trees furnishing the more useful and 
tolerably hard or strong timbers which are found here ; khair (2), bel (6), 
tun (33), hum (41), lisdra (42), sddan (46), sisu (47), aonla (53), and gau- 
sam (115). None of these require further notice than has been already 
given as to their qualities and frequency, except tun and sisu. Of the 
former almost none above the size of the smallest sapling are now to be 
