THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

causes of forest depletion. Many people suggested that natural hazards,
such as fire and landslides, rather than human agency, were the major
factors in forest decline (hence giving indigenous support to the
critique of the environmentalist doctrine outlined in Chapter Two), It
was interesting that when we asked people for examples of where forest
cover had diminished significantly over the years, the extensive area of
forest which once existed near the school was most frequently mentioned.
This had been destroyed by a fire ten years previously, and was an area
which, having been close to many houses, had been much used before its
sudden destruction,
We accompanied several wood collecting parties into the forest while
we were in Tamaphok. Wood cutting and carrying took place during the
winter and spring months. People avoided going to the forests during
the monsoon because of the leeches, the wetness of the wood and their
heavy agricultural workload. The bulk of the cutting took place between
mid-February and mid-April, and wood was then carried to people's houses
from mid-March to mid-May. On!y if the supply was obviously proving
insufficient for the whole year would people make further sorties to
collect baskets of wood after the monsoon, in October or November.
Norma! ly men wou!d go in advance and chop down earmarked trees, which
were often deed or dying, about 3 feet from the ground. They then
divided them up into more manageable portions using axes and saws. The
stumps were split up with axes, after which both men and women were
involved in splitting these and the cut trunk sections into burnable
wood, Women also scavenged for and cut up dried wood and dead branches
using a khukhuri (knife), This was the task we were usually given. We
were told only to cut dry bits and not green pieces of wood.