1 ( 6 )
2 3rd.— Among many of the hill tracts somo of the finest trees are felled to
3 rocure honey. Tho value of the honey 1s only a few pice to the finder, and the
4 fee of a fine tree is irreparable to the Rajah. Felling trees for honey should
5 be prohibited : a very little additional labor and pains would secure the hone
6 without damaging the tree. Besides Sal timber there are many other valuable
7 woods, such as Teak, Sissoo, Kooroom, Assun, Abloos, &c., &c., which aro
8 similarly destroyed: in fact, the only trees preserved systematically are the Jack,
9 Mowsh, and Mango, and these are valuable not only for timber, but for fruit.”
10 ‘The following rules are promulgated for the information and guidance of
11 Gurjat Rajahs :”—
12 1st,—‘‘ Toila cultivation should be brought under the Rajah’s supervision ;
13 there are already vast tracts of scant jungle previously cleared available for
14 toila cultivation. With these Rajahs should not interfere or prevent cultivation;
15 but in future no Rajah should permit any new land to be cleared on which good
16 timber is growing. Those tracts most remote from villages, and where fuel timber
17 exists, should be carefully set apart, and the cutting of timber within fixed limits
18 should be strictly prohibited. Without the Rajah’s express permission—and this
19 permission should only be given to cut trees which have attained a girth of not less
20 than 3 cubits at an height of 3 cubits from the ground—all trees on the reserved
21 tracts of smaller growth should be strictly preserved and not allowed to be cut until
22 they attain a girth of 3 cubits. This prolubition will in no way affect
23 the convenience of the people, who can cut poles, posts, and ploughshares as
24 heretofore in the Heian Ss jungles and toila lands, and any sort of trees but
25 those ordered to be eacevod in other lands.”
26 T. E. Ravensnaw,
27 OFFICE oF Suppt., Triny, MENALS, Superintendent.
28 Currack,
29 Qtth February 1872.
30 SECTION II.
31 RESERVES.
32 Coocn BEHAR, SIKKIM.
33 24. Here, as has been before reported, all the Government forests are
34 “reserved” forests. The area of the whole is about 72 square milos.
35 Se
36 BHUTAN.
37 25. No selection of Reserves has yet been made in Bhititan. All the
38 Government forests in the Dooars have been notified as “ open ” forests. Their
39 boundaries are all fixed and, where necessary, mostly seb lar Reserv-
40 ation of the richest portions within theso tracts will commence next season.
41 The total area of these forests is nearly 767 square miles :—
42 Eastern Dooars ... ee vie oa ... 42 square miles.
43 Western Dooars ... oy nar oe vee ©6425 ae?
44 Total we «767 » »
45 ASSAM.
46 26. In paragraphs 81 and 82 of previous roport it was stated that the
47 “‘numbar” forests in Sibsaugor and the Dooars in Kamroop had been asct
48 apart as Government Reserves so long ago as 1863, but that owing to want of
49 reliable survey maps no boundaries had been fixed.
50 27. Government having approved a proposal to inspect the best forest
51 tracts on the Dhunsiri rivor ( ‘numbar forests”’)
52 and also in the Nowgong district and Kamroo
53 Dooars, Assam forest officers were directed to commence the work. Soceral
54 tracts in Kamroop, and a large tract in the Naga hills and tho Sibsaugor
55 district, have been selected and reported on by the forest officers, whose reports
56 Selection of Hescrveos.