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in places where in olden days vessels rode at anchor. All these examples are on the east coast of Madras, the silting up of the rivers and the decrease in the water supply being due to the destruction of the forests on the Eastern Ghats.

Dr. Gibson enumerates in one of his first Reports on the forestry question in that Presidency a list of the rivers and creeks on the Malabar coast where on our arrival in those parts ships used to ride at anchor, all the creeks having silted up within the memory of men then living.

The illustrations given are perhaps sufficient to depict the position of affairs and the opinions held on this matter in the earlier portion of our rule in India. More detailed investigations were carried out at a later stage, as will be described.

On the initiation of Dr. Cleghorn at the meeting of the British Association in Edinburgh in 1850 a Committee was appointed to consider the destruction of Tropical Forests in India.

The summary of the position as thus envisaged, given in the Report of the Committee in 1851, is of interest :

"The question as between the maintenance and removal of forests appears to us to be a question of compensation. Whenever the progress of population requires that every portion of the soil be made to yield its quota of human food, then the destruction of forests is to be desired, and the disadvantages to which want of wood for social and general purposes may lead, must be compensated for, as they doubtless will be, by the ingenuity which is borne of necessity. But there are localities in nearly all countries to which the tide of population can never flow, but where the forest can flourish, and where it ought to be maintained. In tropical countries the preservation of the springs which feed the rivers, on which the fertility of the land and the prosperity of the people are so essentially dependent, is of the greatest importance. These springs arise in the mountain regions where forests prevail, and it is to such regions that a protective agency should be extended, for there can be but little doubt that the entire removal of wood leads to the diminution of water. In a single sentence, we would say that where human exigencies, whether for subsistence or for health, require the destruction of forests,

1 "To consider the probable effects in an Economical and Physical point of view of the Destruction of Tropical Forests," by Dr. H. Cleghorn, Professor Forbes Royle, Captain H. Baird Smith, Bengal Engineers, and Captain R. Strachey, Bengal Engineers. British Association Report, 1851.

let them be destroyed; but where neither life nor health is concerned, then let a wise system of preservation be introduced and acted upon."

It is doubtful whether during this early period the various Governments of the Southern Presidencies appreciated to any extent the effect upon the rivers, and as a result of denudation and erosion on hill-sides covering up arable land in the valleys below, which the unchecked destruction of forests in the areas by timber merchants and those practising the shifting cultivation, must eventually have on the country. In the mass of correspondence and reports which were produced on this subject, even at that early date, there is little to indicate that any anxiety was felt in this connection. The main anxiety during the greater part of this period, up, in fact, to Lord Dalhousie's famous Memorandum of 1855, was on the score of any failure in the teak wood supplies, and the destruction to the forests proceeded practically unchecked during the greater part of the period, being accelerated in some localities by the large demands for teak on the part of the Government.

The following vivid little pen picture of India and its forests as they existed in 1850 is from the British Association's Report of 1851 "British India is so extensive an empire, so diversified in soil and climate, as well as in natural and agricultural products, that it is impossible to predicate anything respecting it generally; that which is descriptive of one part is not necessarily applicable to another. Thus some parts are covered with primeval forests, as the mountainous coasts of Canara and Malabar, the country surrounding the Neilgheeries, the Tenasserim Provinces, much of Central India, the base of the Himalayan Mountains from Assam up to the banks of the Ganges, as it issues from the hills, and beyond it; while other parts are not only bare of trees, but even of vegetation of any kind, as the deserts which run parallel with the Indus, and stretch more or less into the interior of India. The North-Western Provinces, as well as many parts of the Peninsula of India, are generally bare of timber trees, as also are the highly cultivated Southern Provinces of Bengal. But in most parts of India clumps of trees may be seen by the traveller in every direction in which he can look. This is owing to the Indian practice of embowering every village in a clump or tope of trees, generally of the mango, but frequently the ber, peepul and tamarind, etc., are found, some yielding

fruits, others grateful for their shade, and some yielding fodder for elephants and camels. In the neighbourhood of every village also may be seen tracts of jungle, more or less extensive, which by some are accounted so much waste land. They are often composed of long grass or low shrubs, as the Dhák and wild Jujube, with a few trees intermixed as the babul and siris. These tracts, though disfiguring the rich appearance of a cultivated country, are far from useless, as they form the only pastures which the natives possess for their cattle, as well as their whole source of supply of firewood and whatever timber may be required for the building of their huts or the making of their agricultural implements.

"From the number and extent of the forests and jungles of India, it might be inferred that timber was abundant in all parts, not only for home consumption but that a supply might be obtained for foreign commerce: this is far from being the case. Though forest lands are extensive, their contents in accessible situations are not of a nature or sufficiently abundant to supply even the ordinary demands. In India, as in other long-inhabited and early civilised countries, the parts best adapted for agricultural purposes have long been cleared of jungle. The forests lying nearest to the inhabited tracts were first stripped of their timber, and as no precautions have been taken to replace the old trees a gradual diminution has been observed in the supply of timber, which has consequently increased in price (as may be seen in the Government contracts for building and the commissariat outlay for firewood) not solely from actual deficiency, but because timber is only obtainable from less accessible situations, with considerable increase of labour and expense.

"As the principal cities where the greatest demand for timber exists are in the centre of cultivated tracts, so are they necessarily remote from the forests from which they require wood, either for the construction of houses and materials for shipbuilding or other purposes. Hence a commerce in timber has long been established in India. Calcutta and the cities situated on the Ganges are supplied with timber grown in the forests which skirt the foot of the Himalayan Mountains, from Assam to the banks of the Jumna. These supplies are floated on rafts down the numerous feeders of the Ganges, which forms the great artery of the plains of India. But this is not sufficient for the consumption of Calcutta, as considerable quantities are imported from the Burman Empire. In the same

way there is an insufficient supply for the Madras Presidency, which is made up by importing timber from Ceylon."

"Looking to the extent of India, and reading of interminable jungles, it may seem a work of supererogation to talk of the deficiency of timber or of the necessity of protecting its forests. Timber to be valuable must be of the proper kind, of the proper age, and at proper distances, that is, in accessible situations. As might have been expected, from continual drains being made on these forests, without adequate measures having been adopted to keep up the supply, a continued and increasing deficiency has been experienced in all parts of India, which has frequently attracted the attention of the Indian and Home Governments, so that in the Bombay Presidency numerous reports have been made on the state of the teak forests, and measures adopted for their improvement, without as yet much benefit."

The following is the summary of the conclusions of the Committee who drew up the British Association's Report of 1851

(1) That over large portions of the Indian Empire there is at present an almost uncontrolled destruction of the indigenous forests in progress, from the careless habits of the native population.

(2) That in Malabar, Tenasserim and Sind, where supervision is exercised, considerable improvement has already taken place.

'(3) That these improvements may be extended by a rigid enforcement of the forest regulations and the enactment of additional provisions of the following character, viz. careful maintenance of the forests by the plantation of seedlings in place of mature trees removed, nurseries being established in the immediate neighbourhood and prohibition of cutting until trees are well grown with rare and special exceptions for peculiar purposes. In cases of trees yielding gums, resins, or other valuable products, that greater care be taken in tapping or notching the trees, most serious danger at present resulting from neglect in this operation.

(4) That especial attention should be given to the preservation and maintenance of the forests occupying tracts unsuited for culture, whether by reason of altitude or peculiarities of physical structure.

"(5) That in a country to which the maintenance of its water supplies is of such extreme importance, the indiscriminate clearance of forests around the localities whence these supplies are derived is greatly to be deprecated.

"(6) That as much local ignorance prevails as to the number and nature of valuable forest products, measures should be taken to supply, through the officers in charge, information calculated to diminish such ignorance.

"(7) That, as much information which may be of practical utility is contained in the Manuscript Reports and Proceedings of the late Plantation Committee,' amounting to over 1070 pages of MSS., it is desirable that the same should, if practicable, be abstracted and given to the public." The Plantation Committee originated under the administration of the Marquis of Hastings, but the above recommendation was unfortunately never given effect to.

The above forms a good summary of the position of the Forestry question at the period here dealt with.