---

Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 3, p. 124.

124 THE INDIAN EMPIRE [CHAP, revenues, are too manifest to be overlooked. The advantages of forest conservancy are accordingly now being recognized not only by the more enlightened Indian princes but by private proprietors throughout the country. Forest The foregoing paragraphs present a brief account of the their; creation and management of the state forests of India, but general afford no insight into the conditions that have in the past ecoInomic regulated progress in these respects. In the creation of state forests the forester, first as an explorer and then as a pioneer, finds his sphere of action in advance of the wave of civilization caused by increased prosperity in the more settled lands. In his preparations for the requirements of the future he comes in contact with forest tribes who, whether timid or ferocious, simple or cunning, all possess the common characteristic of view- ing with intense jealousy any interference with the habits and customs of their primitive life. To them, though perhaps they only dimly realize it, the advance of civilization must mean either extinction or absorption into a population possessing a stronger vitality. The policy of the Government of India is to permit no sudden imposition of restrictions that may alter the accustomed mode of life of these tribes, but rather to win confidence by kindness, and thus gradually to create self- supporting communities, acknowledging the state as arbitrator of those questions hitherto decided by might rather than by justice. It is on the manner of giving effect to this policy that the success of the inauguration of forest conservancy often depends; for here, even more than in the comparatively civi- lized parts of the Empire, the work of the Forest department can only commence with the acquiescence of the inhabitants, and only progress with their assistance. With very few exceptions all forest tribes depend to a certain extent on agriculture to supplement their food supply, even though hunting, fishing, and the collection of forest products may form the most important part of their occupation. Most of them are nomadic of necessity; they move in quest of game and practise shifting cultivation at their temporary head-quar- ters; all are armed with the best weapons they can manufac- ture or procure; and as a rule tattooing in red or blue, or other methods of permanently impressing the tribal marks on the skin, are largely resorted to. It is evident that, with the restric- tion of the large areas over which these tribes are wont to roam, and the resulting diminution in the supply of food that the forests can afford, the formation of village communities possess- ing permanent cultivation must gradually ensue; and though in