Provincial Geographies of India/Volume 4/Chapter 9

by Herbert Thirkell White

CHAPTER IX

FORESTS AND FLORA

The forests of Burma may be conveniently classified as (i) Evergreen, comprising (1) littoral, (2) swamp, (3) tropical, (4) hill or temperate; and (ii) Deciduous, comprising (1) open, (2) mixed, (3) dry. The littoral forests are confined to Lower Burma, as also are, practically, the true swamp forests, while the dry deciduous forests mostly occur in the Upper province. The other classes are common to the whole of Burma. The mixed deciduous forests yield most of the out-turn of teak. Large areas covered entirely by teak are however not known and it is rare even to find forests where teak is numerically the chief species. As a rule it is scattered through forests composed of the trees common to the locality. The in forests, so well known on laterite formation, belong to the open deciduous sub-class, while evergreen hill or temperate forests clothe a large proportion of the uplands of the Shan States. A considerable forest area in Burma is covered with a luxuriant growth of bamboo^[1].

The forests are among the most valuable sources of the wealth of the Province. They are administered by Government through the agency of a skilled and highly trained staff of Forest officers. The object of the administration is the preservation of valuable trees, extraction on scientific lines with due provision for reproduction so that the supply of useful timber may not be exhausted, and the realization of State dues. An elaborate Act and still more complex Rules embody the principles of forest administration and prescribe its methods.

Briefly, the theory is that all forest land and forest produce belong to the State. But it is only over certain land and in the case of certain produce that State rights are fully enforced. There are two distinctions which must be understood in order that the situation in respect of forests may be realized. The first distinction is between ordinary public forest land and reserved forests. The second is between reserved and unreserved trees. It will be convenient briefly to deal first with the latter distinction. Certain trees of species which have an economic value are classed as reserved. These may not be cut on public forest land except under license. Teak, most valuable of all trees, is placed on a lonely eminence, its extraction being safeguarded by stringent rules. Wherever it is found, growing teak is the property of the State, and may not be cut down without permission. But, except in the case of teak and of trees in reserved forests, much liberty is allowed to the people to use forest produce, even of reserved kinds, for domestic purposes. For trade, reserved trees can be utilized only under permit and on payment of forest dues.

Public forest land, which is estimated to cover 146,165 square miles, included at the end of 1919—20, 30,000 square miles of reserved forests. These reserved forests are tracts set aside normally for the production of timber or fuel, or in exceptional cases for protective reasons such as the maintenance of the water-supply. The settlement of a reserved forest is effected with extreme care. The intention to constitute a reserve is publicly notified. In due course, a civil officer, called the Forest Settlement officer, specially appointed for the purpose, aided by a Forest officer as adviser, makes a local investigation; hearing and adjudicating on all objections and claims to rights and privileges preferred by people living in or near the proposed reserve. His orders are subject to appeal to a higher civil officer. On the Forest Settlement officer's report, Government finally determines whether or not the proposed reserve is to be constituted. If the decision is in the affirmative, a final notification is issued, declaring the reserve constituted, defining its boundaries, and specifying any rights and privileges assigned to the neighbouring villagers. These rights and privileges consist for the most part of rights of way, rights to extract definite quantities of forest produce, rights of grazing fixed numbers of cattle. Subject to the rights and privileges specified in the notification, a reserved forest is the exclusive property of the State and is strictly protected from injury and trespass. The extraction of timber, principally teak, from reserves is regulated by elaborate working plans which provide for the exploitation of the forests by compartments and for due reproduction, so as to ensure a permanent supply. The extraction of timber is effected partly by contractors working directly under Forest officers, partly by large firms who hold leases of forests and pay royalty on the timber brought out. Among the most important and valuable teak forests are those on the slopes of the Dawna Hills and in the Thaungyin valley in Tenasserim; on the sides of the Pegu Yoma; on the hills east of the Sittang river; in Upper Chindwin, where thirty-three separate forests are recognized; in the Yaw drainage; in Bhamo, Katha, and Mandalay; in the Shan States and Karenni. The northern limit of teak is about 24° 30′ N. lat.; the southern limit between 15° and 16° N.

Teak is so intimately associated with Burma and so valuable a product that some space may be devoted to a description of the method of its extraction. Before teak can be extracted, the tree must be quite dead and dry. Almost always it has to be floated down streams; and green teak does not float. Therefore, two or three years before a forest is to be worked, a Forest officer goes through it, accompanied by a gang of coolies, and selects the trees which he considers fit for felling, taking care to leave a fair proportion of good seed-bearing trees for the purpose of regeneration. Each tree selected is ringed or, as it is technically called, girdled. The bark of the tree and the sap-wood are cut out in a circle so as to expose the heart-wood all round, the flow of sap being thus prevented. The trees are then left usually for three years till dry. Each of 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.

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 each compartment. Each camp has an average of eight elephants, with a headman in charge. After being felled, the trees are cut into logs on the spot, a whole tree being too heavy for dragging. The logs are drawn by elephants to the nearest creek along rough roads generally made by elephants dragging the first logs. On arrival at the bank of the creek, the logs are measured and classified by the European staff and the result is reported to the lessee. The creeks which intersect the forest are very low in the cold and hot weather but are filled in the rains by big rises. After being measured and classified, the logs are launched as soon as possible so as to be ready for the next rise. Care must be taken not to crowd the logs, or they will jam at once, especially when, as is generally the case, the creek is narrow and tortuous. Always after a rise, two or three elephants are sent down the creek to put straight the logs and break up any jams. Unless the creek is exceptionally big, it takes a good many rises to float the logs into the main stream^[2]. Later on, when they have reached the great river, the Irrawaddy, Salween, Chindwin, or Sittang, the logs are formed into rafts and floated down to Rangoon or Moulmein.

The Forest Department is administered on quasi-commercial lines and yields a substantial surplus. In the financial year 1920—21, the receipts were approximately £2,200,000, the expenditure £890,000, leaving a profit of £1,310,000.

Besides teak, many other trees of various economic importance abound. Pyingado (Xylia dolabriformis), harder than and nearly as durable as teak and, on account of its specific gravity, more difficult to extract, is used for railway sleepers and house-building. Other house-building woods are pyinma (Lagerstroemia Flos Reginae); kanyin-byu (Dipterocarpus alatus); thitya (Shorea obtusa); in (Dipterocarpus tuberculatum); ingyin (Pentacme suavis); tauk-kyan (Terminalia tomentosa); and hnaw (Adina cordifolia). In also yields resin. Another use of pyinma and kanyin-byu is for boat-building, for which kôkku (Albizia lebbeck), thingan (Hopea odorata), and yamane (Gmelina arborea) are also in request. Padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) is widely distributed. Economically its principal use is for the making of cart-wheels; it is also much prized for gun-carriages and for ordnance work generally. The roadside padauk (Pterocarpus indicus) is an introduced Malayan species not found wild in the forests, a lovely tree, whose blossoms, when it flowers three times just before the rains, fall in cataracts of gold. Cutch or sha (Acacia Catechu) is common throughout the dry and comparatively dry districts and supports a thriving industry. The wood is cut into chips, boiled, and produces valuable tanning material. Than (Terminalia Oliveri) and dahat (Tectona Hamiltoniana) are burnt for charcoal. Extract of than has been used illegitimately for adulteration of cutch. Pines (Pinus Khasya), best of resin-producing trees, abound in the higher hills, notably in the Chin country, the Shan States, the Ruby Mines, and Salween; Pinus Merkusii is also found, mainly in the Shan States and Salween. Lac, the excretion of the lac insect, and Chinese varnish are produced in the Shan States. Oil for torches is extracted from Kanyin (Dipterocarpus alatus and D. loevis), black varnish from thitsi (Melanorrhoea usitata). Of thitkado (Cedrela Toona) are fashioned sheaths of native swords and daggers.

At the head waters of the Ngawchang, a tributary of the 'Nmaikha, is found a stately juniper from which the Chinese make planks for coffins. It is described as a magnificent tree, growing upwards of 150 feet in height and over 20 feet in girth at the base^[3]. The wood is white, very fragrant, and smooth-grained^[4]. The seat of the coffin plank industry is at Kangpawng in Putao^[5].

A very beautiful tree is the Amherstia, thus pictured at the time of its discovery. "The only plant...which struck us as remarkable was a tree twenty-four feet high, abounding in long and pendulous pannicles of rich geranium-coloured blossoms, and long elegant lance-shaped leaves; it is of the class and order Diadelphia Decandria and too beautiful an object to be passed unobserved^[6]." Declared

Fig. 37. Palms and Plantains.

to be a new genus, it was named "Amherstia nobilis, in compliment to the Countess of Amherst^[7]."

Palms of all kinds flourish in luxuriant abundance and are characteristic features of the scenery everywhere in the plain country. Of these may be mentioned dani (Nipa fruticans) and danôn (Calamus arborescens), whose broad leaves are used for thatching; tari or palmyra (Borassus flabellifer) , from the fruit of which is extracted a liquor, pleasant and refreshing when newly drawn, highly intoxicant when fermented; coco-nut; and the small thinbaung (Phoenix paludosa) used for house-building. Bamboos for which the Burman has a thousand uses, abound in every district, the most notable species being myinwa (Dendrocalamus Strictus), thaikwa (Bambusa Tulda), Kyathaung (Bambusa polymorpha), tinwa (Cephalostachyum pergracile). Among innumerable varieties of grasses, canes, and reeds may be mentioned the fine thin reed (Phrynium dichotomum) of which are woven the beautiful mats of Danubyu; and thetke grass (Imperata arundinacea), commonly used for thatching. Valuable fibre is yielded by Shaw (Sterculia spp.).

Trees of minor importance are kabaung (Strychnos nuxvomica); thitka (Pentace burmannica); tanaung (Acacia leucophloea); and kaunghmu (Parashorea stellata). The india-rubber fig (Ficus elastica) is found in Myitkyina and beyond the administrative border.

Of little present economic value are the vast mangrove, swamp, and savannah jungles which thickly fringe the coast and tidal streams, abounding in dense bushes, creepers, elephant grasses, and reeds. The mangrove jungle of Hanthawaddy, which may be regarded as typical of the Delta

is characterized specially by Bruguiera and Rhizophora. Behind these forests and along the borders of tidal channels are the tidal forests, the most characteristic trees of which are Sonneratia apetala and Avicennia tomentosa. These forests have a thick scrubby growth, similar to that of the mangrove forests. Nipa fruticans and Pandanus foetidus form dense bushes, and Phoenix paludosa is very common. Creepers and climbers abound, including Acanthus volubilis, Flagellaria indica, etc.^[8]

The mangrove forests may have a prospective value in supplying tan bark.

Miscellaneous wild growths are cardamums, cinnamon, castor-oil, gamboge, camphor, the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) from the bark of which Shan paper and Burmese parabaik are made, thanat in which is wrapped the native-made cheroot. Letpan (Bombax malabaricum), the silk cotton tree, is valued for its down. Characteristic of the dry zone of Upper Burma is the cactus, an introduced

Fig. 38. Tamarind trees.

plant which has become naturalized, often used as an impenetrable village fence.

Among wild growing fruit trees may be mentioned the mango, of no great value in its uncultivated state, jack (Autocarpus integrifolia), Zi, the wild plum (Zizyphus Jujuba), Zibyu (Phyllanthus Emblica), Chinese date, tamarind, an introduced tree now widely spread.

In the hills orchids of countless varieties luxuriate in splendid profusion. The Chin Hills are clothed with rich masses of rhododendron, found also less abundantly where. On many mountain sides and upland plateaux are wild growths of temperate climes, oaks, yews, chestnuts, walnuts, crab-apples, pears, cherries, oranges, lemons, citrons, mulberries, figs, peaches, strawberries, roses, ivy, mistletoe and holly.

Lichens, mosses, and ferns abound. Of flowering plants, over 700 species are enumerated by General Collett, principally in the Shan States; among them Ranunculus, Clematis, Viola, Swertia, bushy Lespedeza, large flowering Asters, and showy Ipomoea. Of special note are Schinia Wallichii, with white camellia-like flowers; the wonderful Rosa gigantea, "particularly conspicuous, climbing over tall forest trees, from the top of which the long pendent branches, covered with very large white flowers, hang down in rich profusion"; Lonicera Hildcbrandiana, "a conspicuous shrub with large, dark, glossy leaves and fine crimson flowers, seven inches long, and by far the largest of any known species of honeysuckle"; a tall Lespedeza Pranii, bearing "large dense panicles of fine blue flowers"; Codonopsis convolvulacea, with "beautiful dark blue convolvulus-like flowers"; Ipomoea nana, with flowers "large of a beautiful deep purple"; Colquhounia elegans, most beautiful of Labiatae with dark red and pale salmon-coloured flowers^[9].

Anemone, mimosa, geranium, delphinium, magnolia, gardenia, campanula, primula, jasmine, gentians, lilies, also adorn this Paradise.

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1. Imperial Gazetteer of India—Burma, 1870.
2. Contributed by a worker in the forests.
3. In Farthest Burma. Captain Kingdon Ward, 113.
4. Handbook of Forest produce of Burma. A. Rodger.
5. W. A. Hertz, C.S.I.
6. Crawfurd, 362.
7. Crawfurd, 362.
8. Imperial Gazetteer of India—Burma, 1. 242.
9. General Collett. Journal of the Linnaean Society, xxviii.