Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7 — John Shaqi
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7Thurston, Edgar
History
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7
Thurston, Edgar
Caste -- India, South; Ethnology -- India, South; India, South -- Social life and customs; Tribes -- India, South
In connection with right (3), the District Forest Officer suggested
that "the quantity to be taken annually must be limited, especially
in the case of wood, bamboos, fibre, firewood and honey. The quality
of the wood and of other forest produce should be defined. Chenchus do
not require teak or ebony beams or yegi (Pterocarpus Marsupium) spokes
and felloes for domestic purposes; but, as the right now stands, they
can fell whatever they like, and, though we may know it is for sale
to merchants, the Chenchus have only to say it is for domestic use,
and they cannot be punished. The wood should be limited to poles and
smaller pieces of third-class and unclassified trees."
In 1898 the Governor in Council made the following rules for regulating
the exercise of the rights of the Chenchus living in the reserved
forests on the Nallamalais:--
1. The carrying of torches, and the lighting of fires in fire-protected
blocks during the fire season are prohibited.
2. There shall be no right to wash or bathe in such springs, wells,
pools or portions of streams as are especially set apart for drinking
purposes by the District Forest Officer.
3. No more than the quantity which the Collector may consider to be
actually required for domestic use shall be removed in the exercise of
the right to take wood, bamboos, fibre, thatching grass, firewood,
roots, fruits, honey and other forest produce. The term "other
forest produce" shall be taken to mean other minor forest produce,
not including tusks and horns. No wood other than poles and smaller
pieces of third class and unclassified trees shall be removed.
4. No gudem (Chenchu village) shall, without the special permission
of the Collector, be allowed to keep a larger number of guns than that
for which licenses had been taken out at the time of settlement. Every
gun covered by a license shall be stamped with a distinctive mark or
number. The use of poison and explosives in water, and the setting
of cruives or fixed engines, or snares for the capture or destruction
of fish, are strictly prohibited.
5. For purposes of re-generation, a portion of the area set apart
for the grazing of cattle, not exceeding one-fifth, may be closed
to grazing at any time, and for such length of time as the District
Forest Officer deems fit.
6. The right of pre-emption of all minor forest produce collected
by the Chenchus for sale or barter shall be reserved to the Forest
department. The exercise of the right of collecting wood and other
produce for domestic use, and of collecting minor produce for sale
or barter, shall be confined to natural growth, and shall not include
forest produce which is the result of special plantation or protection
on the part of the Forest department.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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