Forest Department Administration in the Sunderbans
| Author | Richard W. Gable |
| Published date | 01 July 1968 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1968.tb00340.x |
| Date | 01 July 1968 |
Forest Department Administration
in the Sunderbans
by
RICHARD
W.
GABLE
Richard Gable is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University
of California, Davis.
THE Sunderbans of East Pakistan are desolate, vast, forbidding, and
exceedingly beautiful. A delta
of
immense proportions formed by the
great rivers Ganges and [umna, they consist
of
dense, impenetrable jungle
and the water
of
countless rivers and khals which roar down to the Bay
of
Bengal.
This expanse of delta straddles India and Pakistan.
The
eastern portion
in Pakistan contains 2,316 square miles.
The
origin of its name is in doubt.
"Ban" means forest. To some the "sunder" portion comes from the name
of the Sundritree which covers much
of
the delta. To others it comes from
the word meaning "sea" so that Sunderbans stands for "sea-forest". Still
others insist that it is a combination
of
the Bengali words "sunder" meaning
beautiful and
"ban"
for forest.
Beaches
of
smooth white sand edge the forest on the Bay of Bengal.
Occasional meadows covered with soft, thick grass are to be found. But the
general impression is one of endless forests, so thick that it is impossible to
move in them. Nature assures a systematic transition from one form
of
plant life to another. As islands are formed first the grasses take root. As
the island enlarges greater amounts of silt pile up at the edges so that the
interior is always lower than the outer rim.
The
grasses are replaced by
bushes and then by trees. Here are the
sundri,
whose wood is used in
construction or for firewood, the gewa, which is used in making paper and
matches, and alwaysat the rivers edge the golpatta, a delicate, broad leafused
for the thatching on roofs.
While some ancient ruins indicate that the Sunderbans once held a
resident population, today no one lives in this vast area permanently except
as he serves the East Pakistan Forest Department which controls the area or
as he ekes out a living, cutting timber, gathering fuel, collecting honey, or
fishing.
The
dense forests, the rivers when in spate, tigers and reptiles all
make the Sunderbans inhospitable to man.
During the cyclonic storms of late spring and the monsoons of summer
the Sunderbans are so dangerous that few venture there.
The
rivers are
swollen, angry and turbulent.
The
waters flood the land and the trees stand
in the saline water.
For
respiration under these circumstances many trees
have adapted themselves by sending up spike-like roots called pneumato-
phores.
These may be only a few inches high at the edge of the islands,
but
inland, where the islands are lower, these breathing tubes are sometimes
two or two-and-a-half feet tall. They are
but
another hazard to movement
through the Sunderbans.
The
Forest Department of East Pakistan is charged with the responsibility
for managing the Sunderbans and exploiting their natural resources. This
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