Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 4).djvu/94

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78
FORESTS AND FLORA
[ch.

these trees is carefully marked with a hammer, showing the date of girdling, and a strict record of them is kept by the Forest officer. The actual extraction is closely supervised by that officer to whom accounts of extraction have to be rendered. He also inspects from time to time and particularly, in the case of a leased forest, when the lessee notifies that extraction is finished. It is part of his duty

Fig. 36. Forest-working elephants.

Fig. 36. Forest-working elephants.

to satisfy himself that all girdled trees, if marketable, have been extracted and that waste has not been committed in logging them. It might seem to be quite easy to cut up a tree into logs so as to ensure the greatest profit and the least waste. But, as a matter of fact, logging is a difficult operation and demands constant supervision by the European staff.

A forest is marked out into compartments. When work is started one or two elephant camps are established in