[Reader-list] railway posting

[vandana swami]

TRAVE ‘LOG’ UE:  A MID- 19TH CENTURY JOURNEY OF THE
TIMBER LOG FROM THE FORESTS OF KHANDESH TO THE RAILWAY
TRACK

In this piece of writing, I would like to think about
some of the archival materials that I was able to
locate in the Maharashtra State Archives on the themes
of wood, timber logs and forests in mid to late 19th
century western and central India in the context of
railway construction. I would be discussing John
Blackwell’s Report on the Survey of Forests of
Khandesh, written on 4th June 1857.
   
As I have mentioned in my previous postings, the
reason for discussing these themes is that several
important critiques of colonialism can be attempted
through a critical discussion of discourses and
activities centered around wood, timber logs and
forests. Through such engagement, one can begin to
approach the loopholes inherent in the terrain of
environmental history of India, both in terms of what
all constitutes the subject-matter of environmental
history as well as, in light of the former, what
productive and useful directions can an Indian
environmental history take in the future. 

This report, written by John Blackwell, a railway
engineer, is a very interesting and informative
document from the colonial archive embodying and
laying bare several contradictions inherent in
colonial discourses. An extremely detailed and
minutely observed survey report, this survey document
had been commissioned by W Langdon Esquire, Secretary
to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company, in
order to assess the scope and extent of the
availability of quality timber and other fine woods to
be used for railway sleepers from the forests of
Khandesh. 

One of the first things that emerges from a reading of
this report is a very clear sense of a precisely
mapped geography, as for instance in the following
sentence “

.on 27th January last, I placed myself in
communication with Mr. Mansfield, the Collector of
Candeish – it was then arranged that I should meet
that gentleman at Shada – a place lying N W from
Dhoolia, distant about 60 miles

..” (pg 565-566,
Blackwell’s Report). It seems evident that the local
terrain has been well-traveled and well-traversed by
the colonial officials, such that they are able to
have a good ground sense of both their own whereabouts
and also the whereabouts of where and how good timber
can be found. For example, as Blackwell writes,
“
..this place (Dhoolia) is the residence of the
Mamlatdar of the Sultanpur Talooka and has a weekly
timber sale which is held on every Tuesday from the
month of November in one year to the month of May in
the next
” (p.566). Blackwell further continues, “At
Shada, I obtained from Mr. Mansfield orders on the
native authorities of Tulloda, Sirpoor, Chopra, Yawul,
Ravere and Buglaw to render me every assistance in the
prosecution of my enquiries
..”

Also reflected in this report, as in other colonial
documents is the avid use of local knowledge in
locating areas where good timber can be found. In the
words of Blackwell, “I must bring to your notice that
a peon had been placed at my service by Mr. Mansfield
who had been through the forests in and bordering
Candesh, and who consequently knew the country very
well. This man I found useful to me in expediting my
enquiries
”(pg 566). Obviously, it would be no mean
task for colonial officials to traverse the thickly
forested jungles of Khandesh without crucial local
assistance. 

Blackwell continues his report and keeps his
timber-search wide open. As he writes, “I left Shada
on the 4th of February and reached Tulloda the same
date, and witnessed the timber sales that took place
there the following day


Tulloda is the principal
timber mart from where the supplies of Candesh are
procured and lies from Dhoolia N W about 60 miles.
After witnessing the timber sale, I proceed to some of
the forests from where the timber is felled that is
brought to that mart, viz., those of Gowallie and
Sagebaree which lie distant from Tulloda in a westerly
direction 30 and 40 miles respectively
.”(pg 567).
“I then returned to Shada from whence I proceed to the
jungles of Kamtee Cotarra whilst en route to Sirpoor,
the production of which I reported to be of too small
dimensions for conversion into railway sleepers” (pg
568).
 
Displaying an amazing sense of detail, Blackwell
further discusses his journeys, “ From Sirpoor, I went
to Palusair, a place lying north a little east of
Dhoolia distant 50 miles on the Bombay and Indore Road
– above Palusair in a North East direction distant 6
miles. I went to the forest of Moorud and Samneir and
returned to Palusair en route to Chopra passing
through the jungles of Amba, from which place I
furnished a report giving the description of woods
procurable from those forests.”(pg 568)

The journey of the timber log from its place of origin
to its destination on a railway track also comes
across clearly in Blackwell’s report. As he mentions
at one place in the report, “I descended from the Pal
Tuppa to Ravere and proceeded to Burhampoor, where I
learnt timber was collected that was cut from the
forests of Sowleeghur distant from that city about 61
miles and of which I obtained an account from the
Patel of Seerwal (indication of use of local knowledge
again) whom I met at Burhampoor – I did not proceed to
these Jungles, as I had no authority to go beyond
Candeish, and the information I had received was not
from a reliable source. I then returned to Dhoolia
where I employed myself endeavoring to discover and
induce parties to come forward for the supply of
sleepers” (pg 569). Blackwell has also tried to
configure the exact yield that will be generated from
the forests that he is visiting. As he writes, “I have
now to submit in a tabular form the probable number
and description of sleepers that these jungles can
afford , making a distinction between those woods that
have been in use, compared with those that have not
been so employed.” This way of governmentalizing the
forests that Blackwell is employing is also an
important instrument of colonial control over these
forests. In some parts of the report, one finds
Blackwell wondering about the quality of the woods he
is finding, and if they don’t seem up to the mark, he
displays a prescient sense of trying to find
alternatives that might be useful.

What seems clear from a further reading of this report
is that Blackwell has really been put on a mission to
locate and procure good timber from the jungles of
Khandesh and that he is sparing no effort in the task
assigned to him. It also emerges that forests are not
open areas at this time, ready to be harvested by the
colonial authorities at their own will and as and when
needed. Forests are evidently the subject of power
relations between colonial and native authorities. The
Bheel tribals also have areas of forests demarcated
for them and colonial authorities have to seek
permission to enter these areas.  

After having accomplished the job of trying to locate
timber and other fine woods, Blackwell has also been
entrusted with the job of trying to find ways and
means to harvest the timber and to get some sense of
the market value of this wood. Once again, rising to
the task, Blackwell’s ever-watchful ethnographic eye
locates some fascinating details regarding the nature
of labor-regime to be employed that would best yield a
good and profitable return for the GIP Railway
Company. As he writes, “ the system of day work is at
all times objectionable and expensive, even when the
nature of the work is of such a character as to keep
people together under the eyes of a single supervisor.
But to employ people by the day for the felling of
trees would be not only very costly from the increased
 supervision that will have to be adopted, but the
foresters are not to be depended upon in giving a
regular attendance to the work 



by such a plan I
found that no certain estimate could be arrived at
shewing the value of a sleeper converted from timber
so obtained.” 

Consequently, says Blackwell, “I turned my attention
to the village system





..The village system is
where the headman of a village or the headman of
several villages undertake to fell, clean and drag the
timber at so much for a log to certain points of the
forest where the conveying away of the so collected
log of wood is rendered practicable by the employment
of wheeled vehicles


by such a system, the value of
the wood is easily ascertained, the people would go to
work more willingly and more timber would be felled as
they would feel themselves to be under no compulsion
or restraint which will be the case under the day
system.(pg 575)” Obviously, this is a situation where
the colonial authorities are trying to accomplish a
reversal of the authority structure, where the symbols
of coercion are reversed in order to ensure compliance
with colonial authority structures. 
   




		
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