were obliged to collect large piles of wood
around each platform, and keep them burning all night, to prevent the
tigers from carrying off the men who sat upon them; that their lives
were wretched amidst this continual dread of man and beast, but the
soil and climate were good, and the trees and groves planted by their
forefathers were still standing and dear to them; and they hoped, now
that the Resident had come among them, to receive, at no distant day,
the protection they required. This alone is required to render this
the most beautiful portion of Oude, and Oude the most beautiful
portion of India.

_February_ 4, 1850.--Gokurnath, thirteen miles, north-east, over a
level plain of the same fine muteear soil, here and there running
into doomuteea and bhoor, but in no case into oosur. The first two
miles over the grass plain, and the next four through a belt of
forest trees, with rank grass and underwood, abounding in game of all
kinds, and infested by tigers. Bullocks are often taken by them, but
men seldom. The sal (_alias_ sakhoo) trees are here stunted, gnarled,
and ugly, while in the Tarae forest they are straight, lofty, and
beautiful. The reason is, that beyond the forest their leaves are
stripped off and sold for _plates_. They are carried to distant
towns, and stored up for long periods, to form breakfast and dinner
plates, and the people in the country use hardly anything else.
Plates are formed of them by sewing them together, when required; and
they become as pliable as leather, even after being kept for a year
or more, by having a little water sprinkled over them. They are long,
wide, and tough, and well suited to the purpose. All kinds of food
are put upon them, and served up to the family and guests. The cattle
do not eat them, as they do leaves of the peepul, bur, neem, &c. The
sakhoo, when not preserved, is cut down, when young, for beams,
rafters, &c., required in building. In the Tarae forest, the
proprietors of the lands on which they stand preserve them till they
attain maturity, for sale to the people of the plains; and they are
taken down the Ghagra and other rivers that flow through the forest
to the Ganges, and vast numbers are sold in the Calcutta market. The
fine tall sakhoos in the Tarae forest are called "sayer"; the
knotted, stunted, and crooked shakoos, beyond the forest, are called
"khohurs." There are but few teak (or sagwun) trees in this part of
the Tarae forest. The country is ever