1 ( 33 )
2 APPENDIX OC.
3 Extract from Report on the Foreata in the Sylhet District, Dacca Division.
4 1. Work was commenced to the south-east somewhat late, and (the tour being one
5 of exploration in a district where the people are anything
6 but obliging, and the undersigned being accompanied by
7 men who were total strangers to what was required,) progressed rather slowly.
8 Introductory.
9 Valuable and useful trees in tho dis- 2. The trees that aro considered of any value for boat-
10 trict. building or domestic purposes are —
11 Jarul. Hundi. Nurcha, Ping.
12 Nagussur. Kaimulah. Murcha, Jam.
13 Kurtah. Poma. Hortaki. Mohal.
14 Adhal. Ratah. Gamair. Sintajadh.
15 Singra. Jinari Moroi. Harish.
16 Cham. Jhalnah. Chamiah. Boroi.
17 Jahke. j Kalakura. Kakra. Pooair.
18 It is unfortunate that there is but one forest tract (that to the east of the Haraguj
19 Hills) in which Government has absolute right, and in which there are not any claims; al
20 the remaining ones having some decenially settled lands mixed up with Government land.
21 3. Most of the forests in this district are situated to the south at the foot of, and on the
22 spurs of, the hills that run out from Hill Tipperah into
23 ritish territory ; but from all accounts there appears to be
24 but little really valuable timber left, except in very out-of-the-way parts, Most of the timber
25 used to come no doubt from the southern parts of the valleys of the Lungai and Singla rivers,
26 on either sides of which there are detached tracts of forests divided generally by swamps.
27 There are some forests too in the north-west of the district, at the foot of the hills.
28 4. The principal rivers down which timber, &c., get to market are the Soorma and.
29 Peat Ee Koosearah. The former, a continuation of the Barak, coming
30 ene rivers down which timber goest0 from Cachar flows past the timber marts of Sylhet and
31 , Shahgunj, and on the west so far as Sonamgunj, and there
32 takes a southerly course, passing Azmerigunge, one of the largest timber marts in the district.
33 The Koosearah, leaving the Soorma some ten miles to the Sylhet side of Budderpore, flows to
34 the south-west, past the marts of Bhanga, Kurumgunge, old Phenchoogunge, Balagunge,
35 Nubbigunge, and Hubbigunge.
36 Situation of forests.
37 5. Nearly all the timber that comes from the district, as well as that supplied from
38 yaar poe ee Cachar, appears to be used up in the distriot itself, very little
39 ere ee finding its way (even as far as Boyrub Bazaar, Mymensing
40 district,) on the Megna river.
41 6. The chief marts now in existence are at the places before mentioned, and it is from
42 A ee aor them and some smaller ones that the timber is distributed
43 ioe Pod timber becoming acarer. throughout the district; and the demand for wood for boat-
44 building in particular is so great, that if a check is put on
45 felling, and the forests taken up to be conserved and regularly worked, the supply that will
46 then ie available, together with the export from the Cachar forest (which must have suffered
47 to some extent from having beon worked for many years under a system that affords no
48 protection to the small sized trees, and which will require to be looked after if the future is
49 considered), will with difficulty, if at all, meet it. ‘This applies especially to Jarul, Kurtah,
50 and Nagussur, the woods most prized by tho natives.
51 The places best suited for depdts would be Sylhet and Azmerigunge on the Soorma river,
52 tS eget re ee and Balagunge and I{ubbigunge on the Noosearah, and
53 renee eer Aen Dacca, as they are all large, important places, and well
54 known timber marts.
55 Before August 1870, when orders from the Magistrate prohibiting the outting of timber
56 _ issued, there were no restrictions whatever on felling timber,
57 eee of timber stopped by Magis: unless the clause contained in all leases be taken as such ;
58 consequently whatever was wanted was taken without any
59 regard to the size of the tree felled or the requirements of the future. This being the case, it
60 could not be expected that valuable timber should still be procurable except in very remote
61 parts of the district.
62 t