sioner, who had thoroughly grasped the importance of the timber and fuel questions. He defined the work in prospect as follows:

Ist. To demarcate all rukhs, or preserves for fuel or timber. 2nd. To distribute the establishment so as to ensure the careful preservation of the rukhs.

3rd. To provide for the reproduction of trees and fuel by closing tracts of country where fuel is exhausted, and by broadcasting seed.

4th. To persevere in, and extend, the area of experiments in Rukh Topee, and preserves elsewhere.

Whilst cordially endorsing the above able definition of the objects to be arrived at, Cleghorn adds: "The chief points to be remembered are, the selection of a tract where young trees are springing up, showing the capabilities of the soil and its fitness for growing wood, and then the careful protection of the young trees from grazing of every kind."

CHAPTER XXIV

FOREST OPERATIONS BEYOND THE NORTH-WEST (PUNJAB) FRONTIER, 1858-1864

TIMBER SUPPLIES FROM THE INDUS, SWAT AND KABUL RIVERS

N the early 'sixties of last century the territories beyond our North-West Frontier were almost entirely unknown.

I

A few stray and adventurous travellers had penetrated into this wild and lawless territory; Burnes, for instance, visiting Kabul early in the century, whilst Griffith went to Afghanistan and back somewhere about 1839. The course of the Upper Indus from Acho at the bottom of the Astor Valley to Derbund (i.e. "closed door," an appropriate name), a distance of about 160 miles, was quite unknown to Europeans. And yet at this period a considerable amount of timber came down the Indus, Swat and Kabul rivers, and a brisk trade was carried on. It was the existence of this trade, and the considerable stores of deodar and other timber seen at Attock and Peshawar, which stimulated Cleghorn during his visit to the Trans-Indus country to institute enquiries into its source. The information resulting from his investigations, which to some extent goes back beyond 1858, enables a clear impression to be gained on the position of the timber trade at this period, and to some degree as to the extent which the forests, over the march of this turbulent border country, were being indented upon to supply the new demands, to which the activities in construction of railways and public works within our territories had given rise. These activities, as has been shown, were the outcome of the new policy of development which had supervened with the change in Government of the country on the disappearance of the old East India Company.

The Indus. Until three or four years previous to Cleghorn's investigations in this region very little wood had been sent down the Indus. No record existed on the subject of the timber supplies of the Upper Indus, the forests of which were

outside the British sphere of control, and had scarcely been inspected even cursorily. A Report on the river had been drawn up and published, by Lieutenant Wood, Indian Navy, in the Journ. As. Soc., Bengal (Vol. X, p. 518). On the subject of timber he dealt with the matter solely from the point of view of material for boat-building and fuel for the steamers. It was known that the valley of the Indus had been famous for its timber from the days of Alexander down to the year 1841. Forests of sissoo existed on either side of the river and on numerous islands from Torbela to Attock, but these had been wastefully felled during the rule of the Sikhs, “and the remaining trees adorning its banks had been swept away by the terrible flood of 1841" (Major J. Abbott, Jour. As. Soc., Bengal, XVII, p. 231). Cunningham, in his Ladak, p. 135, says: "Indeed, the most striking effect of the cataclysm is the entire absence of trees in the valley of the Shayok, while the lateral valley of Nubra was full of trees upwards of a hundred years old."

From the junction of the Gilgit River to Attock the course of the Indus is south-west, the distance being about 300 miles. This length of the river was little known, but even at Ohind, fifteen miles above Attock where the river debouches into the Church Plain, the current is more rapid than that of any other river in the Punjab. According to Captain Montgomerie, of the Great Trigometrical Survey, as has been already mentioned, on the 160 miles from Derbund to Acho the course was unknown to Europeans in 1861.

Few natives of the plains ever ventured beyond Umb, the only persons who could safely do so being the Shaikzadas of Ziyarat. Popular superstition had invested these people with sanctity as the descendants of a notable saint; and this sanctity safeguarded their persons and property among the wild Kohistanis. The Shaikzadas brought down deodar logs from the forests in the independent States upon the Upper Indus. They procured the wood from the Kohistanis, and the superstition which clothed them secured the safety of their property during its passage through the independent Pathan settlements situated between the forests and Derbund. The timber was floated as far as Derbund, where it was stopped and a toll of 8 annas a log levied upon it by the Chief of Umb. Merchants from Attock and boatmen from Jehangera came up here to buy timber, floating it down from this point in rafts. The Chief of Umb was a minor at this period, being a feudatory

of the British Government, and owned territory on both banks of the Indus. He possessed great influence on the Upper Indus and was entitled to the toll on timber, but the levy of the same toll on all logs, the latter varying greatly in value, and the detention of the timber, which often took place, were hardships which Adams had endeavoured to persuade the Chief to mitigate, as yet without success; although it was to the Chief's interest to encourage the wood trade. The independent Pathans of Kabul and Kyab also started a system of levying tolls on all timber which came within their reach, but this had been promptly stopped by Adams. They received fair payments, however, for all the help they gave in floating rafts or launching stranded timber.

The requirements of the Sind Railway Company were responsible in the first instance for creating a market for timber brought down the Indus. This demand was not maintained at a high pressure for long, and at this period (1862-3) the trade had fallen off to some extent. It had been realised, however, that the supplies would at best be very irregular, since they entirely depended on the wants of the people in the hills who would only take the trouble to send down timber to Derbund in any quantity when their need for money or supplies became urgent, or when it suited them. It was considered, however, that the trade was capable of great extension.

The deodar wood from the main Indus (or Abba Sein, i.e. Father River) was held to be the best in quality by the native dealers and carpenters; the timber was said to be more resinous and durable than that of the logs brought down the other rivers. Major Robertson and Captain Henderson had tested many logs in 1856, reports on their experiments being published for the use of the Thomason Engineering College.

The Swat River and Valley. In the early 'sixties of last century the course of the Swat River was very imperfectly laid down on the most recent British maps, the Swat Valley, though so near the British frontier, being practically unknown. The only description extant at the time appears to have been drawn up by Captain Raverty (Jour. As. Soc., Bengal, 1862, p. 227), based upon the narrative of a native of Kandahar. The latter stated that the lower ranges were treeless and grass-covered; the higher hills on either side were clothed with forests, consisting chiefly of the deodar, edible pine

(P. Gerardiana) and wild olive. In the cultivated tracts the Plane (Platanus orientalis) flourished. At the extreme head of the valley near Sardzaey, in the vicinity of the pass leading into Kashkar, the Report states, "there are immense numbers of trees both along the river banks and on the mountains on either side to their very summits." Dr. Bellew told Cleghorn that the dues for large "pines" (Cleghorn sometimes uses the word in his Report to cover all the conifers including deodar) were 4 annas royalty to the Khan, and 4 annas for felling and launching.

The timber operations on the Swat River at this period were almost entirely in the hands of an old border tribesman, who bore the rather appropriate appellation of Papa Mea, and must have been a remarkable man amongst those turbulent people. Papa Mea was head of the Kakakhel Sayeds, and was described by Major Sandilands, the builder of the Peshawar Road, as a fair-dealing old man, somewhat stubborn and difficult to manage, but frank and independent," a courteous description which displays the Frontier Officer's appreciation of the fine qualities which often exist, amongst so much that is treacherous and bad, in these border tribesmen.

The following description of Papa Mea's methods, penned at the period, depicts to perfection the monopoly which this shrewd old man had established. Native traders who had tried to break it by purchasing timber in the Swat Valley were treated with scant respect by the Swati Afghans, who took their money and then stole the timber. But Papa Mea was not treated in this fashion :

"He sells at his own price, rarely at less, fulfils his agreement and seldom supplies bad material. He lives on his own jaghir (land grant) called Walli, near Nowshera, where there is an expense yard. His people go where they choose up the three rivers, and the perils of eternal punishment attend those who injure them in any way. Papa Mea, therefore, is the principal man with whom extensive dealings may be carried on. He has a large wood yard at the village of Hashtnagar, near the confluence of the Swat and Kabul rivers, which is in British territory. This depôt often contains 5000 logs of various sizes, and may be said to command the market in its present limited state. I believe that considerable quantities of deodar may be obtained from the Swat Valley, if Papa Mea's terms are agreed to, and intimation is given to him six months before."