charge of Gonda. The Bhinga Forests have been already alluded to-Eardley Wilmot has the following interesting note concerning them: "The forests of Bhinga present a curious appearance to the forester. Thirty years ago the area was peopled with ancient trees that rose abruptly from a bare soil hardened by the hoofs of numberless cattle; there was no young growth, the parent trees were without progeny, and as they fell from natural decay their place was filled by a thorny growth, impenetrable to man or cattle. It was Nature's last despairing effort to protect the fertility of the soil. For a generation the Forester fought against fires, cattle and man, and yet there was no response in the appearance or in the continuance of seedling growth, till later, under the protection of the thorns, a few little trees began to show, and, encouraged by the admission of light, sprang up to give in their turn protection to hundreds of their kind, to assure the tardy regeneration of the former forest. To one acquainted with the past history of this forest, two questions naturally presented themselves-whether a whole generation was required to rest a tired soil, and whether the planting of any other than the existing species might have met with success." As the Conservator says, to these questions answers are indispensable if the forester is not to invite serious sylvicultural failures. Research work to provide knowledge on the rotation of species is essential in all countries, and perhaps even more so in areas where it is desired for one reason or another to raise pure crops, which are even more subject to insect attack and fungus diseases. Research is a paramount necessity in India, and through research work there can be little doubt that, as Eardley Wilmot expresses it, we may some day light upon the causes that are at work when studying, as we now do, to remedy their effects, and there will become open to us those sylvicultural secrets with regard to teak, to sâl, to other valuable Indian timbers which at present so often stand in the way of the forester in his efforts to aid in the regeneration of those trees on areas where magnificent forests once flourished, or stand in splendid maturity even in the present day."

CHAPTER IX

THE PROGRESS OF FOREST ADMINISTRATION IN BENGAL

1871-1900

HE position of the forests of Bengal and the commencement made in introducing forest conservancy was described at length in Volume II, Chapter XI. With the exception of some of the northern forest areas, but little real organization had been undertaken in the Province, and the position was retarded to some extent by the fact that Assam was still administered by the LieutenantGovernor of Bengal, and the Government of India had been particularly anxious to have investigations made into the value of the Assam sâl forests. In the Annual Report for 1868-9 the proposed forest divisions were the Sikkim and Bhutan, Lower Assam, Upper Assam, Dacca and Chittagong, each of the divisions being divided into two subdivisions (II, p. 423). The formation of Assam into a Chief Commissionship in 1874 relieved Bengal of the forests in that Province. Leeds was succeeded by Dr. Schlich as Conservator of Forests in Bengal in December, 1872, whilst the Executive Staff was raised from six to eleven officers. As a result of Schlich's work a proper organization of the forests was introduced before he left the Province in 1878, including the demarcation of the Reserves and so forth. Various rather retrograde steps had been undertaken. The Chittagong Division had been made over to the Commissioner, who was appointed Conservator of Forests. Schlich's first step was to start an efficient system of collecting detailed information about the forests from which, in a few years, he was able to give a very good general description of the forests of the Province. In 1872-3 there were five divisions: (a) Cooch Bihar Division, coinciding with the boundaries of the Cooch Bihar Commissionership, the Forest Officers being under the orders of the Conservator. (b) Assam Division, coinciding with boundaries of the Assam Commissionership. The Forest Officers were under the Commissioner,

but the Conservator could inspect and controlled the accounts. (c) Dacca Division (Sylhet and Cachar), the Forest Officers nominally under the Conservator. (d) Chittagong Division, coinciding with the Commissionership, the Commissioner being Conservator of Forests. The Conservator, Bengal, had no control, but might be asked to advise. (e) Bhaugalpur Division, comprising the whole of the Western Districts, Chota Nagpur, Patna and Bhaugalpur. Forest Administration had only been really commenced in three of the above, i.e. Cooch Bihar, Assam and Chittagong. Schlich had some good officers under him at this period, Messrs. A. L. House, who had recently joined Bengal and had made an examination of the Sundarbans, Capt. Locock, G. Mann, H. Davis, A. P. Aylmer and J. S. Gamble, who had already commenced making a name for himself. Under the above described arrangements the Conservator of Forests was little more than an official Controller of Accounts. With the object of commencing an organized survey of the forests Schlich temporarily closed down the Dacca and Bhaugalpur Divisions, transferring the staff into the Cooch Bihar and Assam Divisions. This proved effective, but before work could be restarted in Dacca and Bhaugalpur, Assam was formed into a separate Province, which included the Goalpara, Cachar and Sylhet Districts. The Bengal Forest Department again dropped to two divisions, Cooch Bihar and Chittagong, of which the former contained 120 square miles of Reserved Forests and the latter none.

In dealing with this question Schlich wrote (Pro. Rep. For. Admin. Beng., 1873-4, p. 1): “However, steps have been taken, and an establishment sanctioned, to bring 178 square miles of forests in the Palamow sub-district, Chota Nagpur Division, under control and management. Moreover, there is a prospect of the Sundarbans Forests being brought under this Department, and there are forests in the Bogra Collectorate waiting to be examined; so that the end of the year 1874-5 may find the Department grown again as much as the cutting off of Assam had temporarily reduced it. From a financial point of view the change will not be a loss to this Department, since Assam has always shown a considerable annual deficit." In this Report there is a summary of the results of House's examination of the Sundarbans commenced in 1872-3 and finished the following year. House furnished a most interesting account of the tracts of forest situated in the Jessore District, and gives a list of the markets to which the produce was taken

by boats, including Calcutta and numerous other places in the 24-Pargannahs, Jessore and Backerganj. In some of the latter markets sâl from Nepal was said to be purchasable. There were no villages within the tract. On the subject of ownership House wrote: "I am not aware of any rights possessed by the inhabitants of the surrounding districts, but at present anyone who is so disposed trades in timber and firewood from all parts of the forests. The 'fakirs,' who look after the spiritual wants of the woodcutters, and by the use of numerous charms and incantations do their best to protect their bodies from the tigers, in consideration of which services they receive a share in the value of the timber exported, have great influence with all classes of men who carry on the trade, and may be said to be working the forests on their own account, as they point out the allotments in which timber is to be felled; and without the 'fakir's' countenance and protection no woodcutter will enter any allotment. I have met numerous boats wandering about the rivers looking out for forests in which a 'fakir' has taken up his post." It will appear that the numerous tigers acted as a deterrent to overworking any portion of these forests in those days, for House writes: "The party working in No. 232 Allotment made an abrupt departure whilst I was anchored just opposite their head-quarters, in the Manki Khal, having lost six men carried off by tigers within ten days, and I met the 'fakir' who had charge of the working-party in No. 248 as I was going down the Pussur River, who was making off to some other allotment, he having lost three men during the previous week from the same cause!" Tigers and priests! it was a curious combination of a protective and exploitation staff; but it appears to have been the first. At the end of the summary of House's Report Schlich says: "The question of deriving a revenue from the Sundarbans is now before Government, and it is expected that a final decision on the subject will soon be arrived at." It will be remembered that in 1865 the Commissioner of the Sundarbans had stated that these forests were of little value (II, p. 386)! Their wonderful latterday development is well known. Davis, as Assistant Conservator of Forests in Chittagong, had reported against forming Reserves in the Hill Tracts. His reasons were that these forests were vast, inaccessible and very difficult to explore, since the only means of access was up the rivers and streams. Once the latter were left there were no roads and few paths in the network of forest-covered hills. The Deputy Commissioner

and the Commissioner agreed with this view, but Schlich demurred at having the point definitely disposed of. As a matter of fact this great area remained “unclassed forest," and was so at the end of the period here considered, when the author held charge of Chittagong. Felling was still taking place in the forests, and the logs, etc., paid the royalties at the toll stations established on the rivers. The want of an adequate staff and the enormous area of the Division made any other form of working impossible. The Arakan Forests to the east, which were in the Burma Province, were without supervision. Schlich reported on them in 1869 and the author wrote a brief Memorandum in this connection after a visit in 1900. Some of the produce from the Chittagong Hill Tracts found its way down through Arakan into the Naaf estuary. Even in 1873-4 it was estimated that some 2000 boats were constructed here annually and a vessel of 200 tons was launched. The author saw much the same state of affairs in 1900, but sleeper cutting had been added.

By the end of 1875, instead of two forest divisions only, five had been formed, viz.: Darjiling, Jalpaiguri, Palamow, Sundarbans and Chittagong, the acreage of Reserves having risen from 120 to 1467 square miles, a noteworthy achievement. The Sukna Forests (6902 acres) were examined and valued during the year 1874-5, but other areas in the Terai remained to be examined. The additions to the Jalpaiguri Division Reserves were an area of 5 square miles adjoining the Muraghat sâl forest, and 110 square miles forming the Buxa Plains Reserve. The Muraghat Forest was reported to contain 171,590 sâl trees, principally seedlings and saplings. "It is not intended that any cuttings of growing trees shall be made for several years to come, and in the meantime the forest will be protected against fire, grazing and cultivation." Schlich considered the Buxa Plains Reserve to contain the best sâl forest in Bengal. It was divided into five blocks, an outline Working Plan for eight years had been made and an annual surplus of Rs.20,000 was anticipated. In the Sundarbans 885 square miles had been reserved in the Jessore District, and thus at length Government were claiming a revenue which was their own whilst saving these invaluable forests from destruction. Two Reserves were also gazetted in the Chittagong Division, the Mayanee Timber Reserve (339 square miles) and the Karnafuli Plantation Reserve of 8 square miles, which was to be planted with teak, jarul and toon. The Divisional Officers were once again placed