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Governing Gender and Sexuality in Colonial India

In 1865, the British rulers of north India resolved to bring about the
gradual ‘extinction’ of transgender Hijras. This book, the first in depth
history of the Hijra community, illuminates the colonial and postcolo
nial governance of gender and sexuality and the production of colonial
knowledge. From the 1850s, colonial officials and middle class Indians
increasingly expressed moral outrage at Hijras’ feminine gender expres
sion, sexuality, bodies and public performances. To the British, Hijras
were an ungovernable population that posed a danger to colonial rule.
In 1871, the colonial government passed a law that criminalised Hijras,
with the explicit aim of causing Hijras’ ‘extermination’. But Hijras
evaded police, kept on the move, broke the law and kept their cultural
traditions alive. Jessica Hinchy argues that Hijras were criminalised not
simply because of imported British norms, but due to a complex set of
local factors, including elite Indian attitudes.

Jessica Hinchy is Assistant Professor in History at Nanyang

Technological University in Singapore.
Governing Gender and
Sexuality in Colonial India
The Hijra, c.1850–1900

Jessica Hinchy
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314 321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre,
New Delhi 110025, India
79 Anson Road, #06 04/06, Singapore 079906

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108492553
DOI: 10.1017/9781108592208
© Jessica Hinchy 2019
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2019
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Hinchy, Jessica, author.
Title: Governing gender and sexuality in colonial India : the Hijra, c.1850 1900 /
Jessica Hinchy.
Description: Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018052498 | ISBN 9781108492553
Subjects: LCSH: Transgender people India History 19th century. |
Transgender people Legal status, laws, etc. India. | India. Criminal Tribes
Act of 1871. | India Politics and government 1857 1919. | India Social
conditions 19th century.
Classification: LCC HQ77.965.I5 H56 2019 | DDC 306.76/80954 dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052498
ISBN 978 1 108 49255 3 Hardback
ISBN 978 1 108 71699 8 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Governing Gender and Sexuality in Colonial India

In 1865, the British rulers of north India resolved to bring about the
gradual ‘extinction’ of transgender Hijras. This book, the first in depth
history of the Hijra community, illuminates the colonial and postcolo
nial governance of gender and sexuality and the production of colonial
knowledge. From the 1850s, colonial officials and middle class Indians
increasingly expressed moral outrage at Hijras’ feminine gender expres
sion, sexuality, bodies and public performances. To the British, Hijras
were an ungovernable population that posed a danger to colonial rule.
In 1871, the colonial government passed a law that criminalised Hijras,
with the explicit aim of causing Hijras’ ‘extermination’. But Hijras
evaded police, kept on the move, broke the law and kept their cultural
traditions alive. Jessica Hinchy argues that Hijras were criminalised not
simply because of imported British norms, but due to a complex set of
local factors, including elite Indian attitudes.

Jessica Hinchy is Assistant Professor in History at Nanyang

Technological University in Singapore.
Governing Gender and
Sexuality in Colonial India
The Hijra, c.1850–1900

Jessica Hinchy
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314 321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre,
New Delhi 110025, India
79 Anson Road, #06 04/06, Singapore 079906

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108492553
DOI: 10.1017/9781108592208
© Jessica Hinchy 2019
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2019
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Hinchy, Jessica, author.
Title: Governing gender and sexuality in colonial India : the Hijra, c.1850 1900 /
Jessica Hinchy.
Description: Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018052498 | ISBN 9781108492553
Subjects: LCSH: Transgender people India History 19th century. |
Transgender people Legal status, laws, etc. India. | India. Criminal Tribes
Act of 1871. | India Politics and government 1857 1919. | India Social
conditions 19th century.
Classification: LCC HQ77.965.I5 H56 2019 | DDC 306.76/80954 dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052498
ISBN 978 1 108 49255 3 Hardback
ISBN 978 1 108 71699 8 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Governing Gender and Sexuality in Colonial India

In 1865, the British rulers of north India resolved to bring about the
gradual ‘extinction’ of transgender Hijras. This book, the first in depth
history of the Hijra community, illuminates the colonial and postcolo
nial governance of gender and sexuality and the production of colonial
knowledge. From the 1850s, colonial officials and middle class Indians
increasingly expressed moral outrage at Hijras’ feminine gender expres
sion, sexuality, bodies and public performances. To the British, Hijras
were an ungovernable population that posed a danger to colonial rule.
In 1871, the colonial government passed a law that criminalised Hijras,
with the explicit aim of causing Hijras’ ‘extermination’. But Hijras
evaded police, kept on the move, broke the law and kept their cultural
traditions alive. Jessica Hinchy argues that Hijras were criminalised not
simply because of imported British norms, but due to a complex set of
local factors, including elite Indian attitudes.

Jessica Hinchy is Assistant Professor in History at Nanyang

Technological University in Singapore.
Governing Gender and
Sexuality in Colonial India
The Hijra, c.1850–1900

Jessica Hinchy
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314 321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre,
New Delhi 110025, India
79 Anson Road, #06 04/06, Singapore 079906

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108492553
DOI: 10.1017/9781108592208
© Jessica Hinchy 2019
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2019
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Hinchy, Jessica, author.
Title: Governing gender and sexuality in colonial India : the Hijra, c.1850 1900 /
Jessica Hinchy.
Description: Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018052498 | ISBN 9781108492553
Subjects: LCSH: Transgender people India History 19th century. |
Transgender people Legal status, laws, etc. India. | India. Criminal Tribes
Act of 1871. | India Politics and government 1857 1919. | India Social
conditions 19th century.
Classification: LCC HQ77.965.I5 H56 2019 | DDC 306.76/80954 dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052498
ISBN 978 1 108 49255 3 Hardback
ISBN 978 1 108 71699 8 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
For my hilarious, caring and enormously smart mother Tracey,
upon whose advice I depend,
my loving and supportive father Russell, a secret history
obsessive,
my dazzling, intelligent and gutsy sister Stefie, without whom
I would not be me,
and Hugh, my best friend and very funny husband, who makes
every day a whole lot better.
 Contents

List of Illustrations page ix

Glossary x
List of Abbreviations xii

Introduction 1

Part 1 Solving the ‘Eunuch Problem’ 25

1 The Hijra Panic 27
2 An Ungovernable Population 44
3 Hijras and Indian Middle-Class Morality 80
4 The ‘Gradual Extirpation’ of the Hijra 93

Part 2 Multiple Narratives of Hijra-hood 115

5 The Hijra Archive 117
6 Hijra Life Histories 139

Part 3 Surviving Criminalisation and Elimination 165

7 Classifying Illegible Bodies, Contesting Colonial
Categories 167
8 Policing, Evading, Surviving 194

vii
viii Contents

9 Saving Children to Eliminate Hijras 226

Conclusion 250
Postscript: Hijras and the State in Postcolonial South Asia 255

Bibliography 272
Index 297
 Illustrations

1 Balthazar Solvyns, ‘Hidjera’, from Les Hindoos, vol. 2 (Paris:

Chez l’auteur; Chez H. Nicolle, 1808–12), plate IV. British
Library, London, UK ©British Library Board. All Rights
Reserved, Bridgeman Images. page xiv
2 Anon. (Indian artist), ‘Eunuchs Dancing’, c.1820, Hastings
Albums, BL/IOR/Add/Or/5014. British Library, London, UK
©British Library Board. All Rights Reserved, Bridgeman
Images. xv
3 Anon. (British photographer), ‘Group of Hijra Dancers and
Musicians, Delhi’, c.1860, BL/IOR/Photo/460(60). British
Library, London, UK ©British Library Board. All Rights
Reserved, Bridgeman Images. xvi
4 Anon. (British photographer?), ‘Gurmah, Khunsa, or Hijra,
reputed hermaphrodite, Eastern Bengal’, c.1860s, BL/IOR/
Photo/124(38). British Library, London, UK ©British Library
Board. All Rights Reserved, Bridgeman Images. xvii
5 Abbas Ali, ‘Meah Sahub, Eunuch’, from Lucknow Album, vol. 1,
BL/IOR/Photo/269/1(86). British Library, London, UK
©British Library Board. All Rights Reserved, Bridgeman
Images. xviii

ix
 Glossary

ashraf People of aristocratic or eminent families.

ayurveda The Sanskritic medical tradition.
badhai A ‘congratulatory gift’, the payment made to
Hijras performing at weddings and following births.
Banjara A nomadic community of transporters.
Bhagatiya A community of performers and entertainers; a male
dancer or dancing boy.
bhand Also bhandela, a comic performer, usually itinerant.
Brahman The Hindu priestly caste.
Chamar An ‘untouchable’ community typically engaged in cul-
tivation and/or leatherwork.
chaukidar A village or neighborhood watchman.
chela A disciple in a monastic or Hijra community (also
a common term for a slave).
dai A midwife or a Hijra who performs the castration
(nirvan) operation.
dholak A small, two-sided drum.
fakir A religious ascetic, particularly a Muslim ascetic.
gorait A watchman (especially in the Benares region).
guru A spiritual teacher or guide; a senior Hijra in super-
ordinate position to a chela.
Hijra A member of the Hijra community, usually a male-
born person with a feminine gender identity; often
a performer and collector of badhai at births, weddings
and other occasions.
inam A rent-free land grant, often hereditary.
jati A caste group.
Khoja A term for ‘eunuch’.
Khwajasarai A eunuch-slave (literally ‘lord superintendent of the
house’); often household servants, administrators,
military commanders, intelligencers and diplomats.
lambardar A village headman.
x
 Glossary xi

majira Also manjira, a pair of small cymbals.

mela A fair or religious festival.
mukhannas A derogatory term, roughly meaning ‘passive
sodomite’.
mukhtar A lawyer, especially a district court ‘pleader’.
munshi A writer, clerk, bureaucrat or language teacher.
nirvan ‘Spiritual rebirth’; the Hijra term for the castration
operation.
pargana A subdivision of a district.
pir A spiritual teacher, especially in the Sufi tradition.
rais A patron or magnate, frequently government
informants.
Sakhi Also termed Rasik, a ‘female companion’ of the
Ramanandi monastic order; a male devotee who per-
forms femininity in a ritual context.
sakhi-bhav Religious devotion in which the devotee becomes a
female companion of Sita.
sati Widow-burning.
taluqdar A landowner who leases his land to tenant farmers (in
Oudh).
tawa’if Skilled courtesan performers.
thagi Or ‘thuggee’, crime by deception or a colonial category
of highway crime.
thana A police station.
unani The South Asian Greco-Islamic medical tradition.
zamindar A landowner who leases his land to tenant farmers.
Zankha Also pronounced Jankha, an ‘effeminate’ or ‘impo-
tent’ man or a dancing boy; appears to have been
used interchangeably with Zanana.
zanana The female quarters of a house.
Zanana A man whose gender expression is effeminate or fem-
inine, often a performer.
 Abbreviations

BL/IOR British Library, India Office Records (London)

CGGI Council of the Governor-General of India
CDA Contagious Diseases Act
CTA Criminal Tribes Act
DC Divisional Commissioner
DM District Magistrate
DNA Decisions of the Nizamat Adalat
DSIP District Superintendent of Police
GGI Governor-General of India
GI Secretary Secretary to the Governor-General, Government
of India
GI Government of India
IPC Indian Penal Code
NAI National Archives of India (New Delhi)
NWP DIGP Deputy Inspector-General of Police, North-
Western Provinces
NWP IGP Inspector-General of Police, North-Western
Provinces
NWP MLC Member of the Legislative Council of India for
the North-Western Provinces
NWP NA Nizamat Adalat, North-Western Provinces
NWP Secretary Secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor, North-
Western Provinces
NWP&O DIGP Deputy Inspector-General of Police, North-
Western Provinces and Oudh
NWP&O IGP Inspector-General of Police, North-Western
Provinces and Oudh
NWP&O Secretary Secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor, North-
Western Provinces and Oudh
OJ Officiating Judge
PA Personal Assistant

xii
 List of Abbreviations xiii

SJ Sessions Judge
SVN Selections from the Vernacular Newspapers
UP United Provinces
UPSA/A Uttar Pradesh State Archives (Allahabad Branch)
UPSA/L Uttar Pradesh State Archives (Lucknow Branch)
xiv Figure

Figure 1 In his 1808 etching of a ‘Hidjera’, Anglophone Flemish artist

Balthazar Solvyns depicted the Hijra in a picturesque mode. However,
his accompanying written account lambasted Hijras as immoral people.
Figure xv

Figure 2 ‘Eunuchs Dancing’, by an anonymous Indian artist from Patna

(c.1820). This gouache painting of three Hijras was collected by
Governor General Francis Rawdon Hastings and his wife.
xvi Figure

Figure 3 As these Hijras danced in 1860, the colonial government in

north India was discussing how to suppress the Hijra community,
eventually leading to their criminalisation under Part II of the 1871
Criminal Tribes Act. This photograph of a ‘Group of Hijra Dancers
and Musicians, Delhi’ was probably taken by a British photographer of
the Shepherd and Robertson commercial photography firm.
Figure xvii

Figure 4 ‘Gurmah, Khunsa, or Hijra, reputed hermaphrodite, Eastern

Bengal’, c.1860s. This photograph is part of a collection of racial and
caste ‘types’ from modern day Bangladesh and Assam and was probably
taken by a British commercial photographer.
xviii Figure

Figure 5 Khwajasarais were eunuch slaves who were employed in elite

households and Indian states. They had a masculine gender identity, in
contrast to feminine identifying Hijras. Although the colonial
government did not apply Part II of the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act to
Khwajasarais, they were sometimes caught up in the policing of
Hijras. This young Khwajasarai named Meah Sahub was
photographed by Abbas Ali, an Indian photographer from Lucknow,
in the 1870s.
 Introduction

On the 17th of August 1852, a Hijra named Bhoorah was found dead with
her ‘head nearly severed’ in the north Indian district of Mainpuri.1 In the
aftermath of Bhoorah’s violent death, the British rulers of north India
resolved that the Hijra community should be rendered extinct. Hijras like
Bhoorah performed and asked for badhai (a ‘congratulatory gift’) follow-
ing the births of children, at marriages and in public spaces. They embo-
died a feminine gender identity, for instance through women’s clothing,
and described themselves to colonial officials as having been either
castrated or ‘born that way’.2 Hijras were initiated into discipleship
lineages that linked generations of gurus (teachers) and
chelas (disciples). Bhoorah had attained guru status and had two disciples,
Dullah and Mathee, with whom she lived. For two years, Bhoorah had
also lived with her male lover, Ali Buksh, but shortly before she was
murdered, Bhoorah had left him for another man. On the 17th
of August, Ali Buksh forced Bhoorah to return to him. Neighbours saw
the couple arguing in the street before entering their house. Later,
Bhoorah’s disciple Dullah ran out into the street, shouting that Ali
Buksh had murdered Bhoorah. In the subsequent murder trial, there
were two suspects, Ali Buksh and Dullah, but the British judges were
convinced that Ali Buksh had killed Bhoorah due to the ‘severance’ of
their ‘infamous connexion’. Although a Hijra was the victim of the crime
under trial, the judges criminalised Hijras as cross-dressers, ‘beggars’ and
‘unnatural prostitutes’. One judge called Hijras an ‘opprobrium’ upon
colonial rule, while another claimed that the continued existence of the
Hijra community was a ‘reproach’ to the British government.3 Bhoorah’s
death sparked an anxious discussion in the official circles of the province
in which she lived, the North-Western Provinces (NWP). British admin-
istrators claimed that Hijras – or ‘eunuchs’ in colonial parlance – were
1
Government v. Ali Buksh, DNA NWP 2 (1852): 1314 6.
2
‘Emasculated’ and ‘eunuch by birth’ were the main terms used in English language
colonial records that reported Hijras’ statements.
3
Government v. Ali Buksh.

1
2 Introduction

‘habitual sodomites’, beggars, an obscene presence in public space and

the kidnappers and castrators of children. In 1865, the NWP declared
that its aim was to ‘reduce’ the number of ‘eunuchs’ and thus ‘gradually
lead to their extinction’.4 The province launched an anti-‘eunuch’ cam-
paign that had the explicit goal of ‘extirpating’ or ‘exterminating’ the Hijra
community.5
This project of elimination was formalised under the Criminal Tribes
Act (CTA) of 1871. While the much-studied Part I of the CTA targeted
the ‘criminal tribes’ – groups that were apparently hereditary criminals by
caste occupation – the under-examined second part of the law targeted
so-called ‘eunuchs’. Under the CTA, Hijras would find their gender
embodiment, domestic arrangements and livelihoods scrutinised and
policed in new ways. The anti-Hijra campaign was a provincial project,
since Part II of the CTA was enforced specifically in the NWP.6 The CTA
required police to draw up registers of the personal details of ‘eunuchs’.
Specifically, police had to register ‘eunuchs’ who were ‘reasonably sus-
pected’ of sodomy, kidnapping and castration, thus legally defining
a eunuch as a criminal and sexually deviant person. The 1871 law pro-
vided police with increased surveillance powers; prohibited registered
people from wearing female clothing and ‘adornments’ or performing in
public; provided for the removal of children in registered people’s house-
holds; and included provisions that interfered with Hijra discipleship and
succession patterns.7 The short-term aims of the law included the cultural
elimination of Hijras through the erasure of their public presence.
The explicit long-term ambition was ‘limiting and thus finally extinguish-
ing the number of Eunuchs’.8 Fortunately, the Hijra community survived
these colonial attempts to cause their ‘extinction’ and is evident today in
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Given the present-day social margin-
alisation and police abuse of Hijras, the history of Hijras’ interactions with
the state is a pressing issue.9

4
BL/IOR/P/438/61: Simson to all NWP DC, 9 June 1865.
5
BL/IOR/P/840: Robertson to NWP&O IGP, 3 April 1877; BL/IOR/P/438/62: Robertson
to NWP Secretary, 27 June 1866.
6
From 1877, Part II of the CTA was also enforced in Oudh, which was amalgamated into
the NWP. The new province was called the North Western Provinces and Oudh. To avoid
confusion, I refer to the province as the NWP throughout, except in citations. Part II of the
CTA also applied to Punjab, but the Punjab authorities never enforced it. BL/IOR/L/PJ/5/
82: Barron to Delhi DC, 22 August 1910.
7
BL/IOR/V/8/42: Act No. XXVII of 1871.
8
BL/IOR/P/438/61: Simson to all NWP DC, 9 June 1865.
9
People’s Union for Civil Liberties (Karnataka), ‘Human Rights Violations Against the
Transgender Community: A Study of Kothi and Hijra Sex Workers in Bangalore, India
September 2003’, http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/PUCL/PUCL%20Report
.html (accessed 24 August 2012).
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
spruce, cypress, etc., shrinks less than the wood of trees such as the
oak.
118. Weight.—Wood substance is 1.6 times as heavy as water; it
matters not whether it be wood of oak, pine or poplar.
Wood placed in water floats because of the air enclosed in its cells;
when the cells become filled with water it sinks.
The weight of any given piece of wood is determined (1) by the
wood substance—this is always the same; (2) by the amount of
water enclosed in its cells—this varies.
Some kinds of woods are heavier than others similarly seasoned
because they contain more wood substance in a given volume.
Weight of wood is an important quality. To a large extent, strength
is measured by weight; a heavy piece of oak will be stronger than a
light one of the same species.
Lightness, strength and stiffness are properties which recommend
wood for different uses.
119. Other Properties.—Strength, elasticity, hardness, toughness
and cleavability as applied to timber, have
their usual meaning.
120. Grain.—Wood fibers generally extend parallel to the axis of
the trunk or branch which they form. In this case the
wood is said to be straight grained.

Fig. 202. Fig. 203.

 Frequently, the fibers grow around the tree as in Fig. 202, or
several layers may grow obliquely in one direction and the next
series grow obliquely in the opposite direction, Fig. 203. Boards cut
from such trees will be cross grained or twisted.
The surface of the wood under the bark is seldom smooth. Usually
these hollows are filled even by the addition of one or two new rings
of growth. However, in some woods as maple, the unevennesses are
maintained, the high places being added to as are the low. Fig. 204.
A board cut tangentially from the tree in which the depressions are
small and numerous will have “birds’ eyes”. Dormant buds frequently
cause small cone-shaped elevations, which tho covered with
successive layers of new wood, retain their shape. Cross sections of
these cones will appear on the sawed board as irregular circles with
a dark speck in the center.

Fig. 204.
 Fig. 205.
FELLING RED SPRUCE WITH THE SAW. ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS, NEW
YORK.

CHAPTER XI.
Lumbering and Milling.
 121. Lumbering.—Lumbering is of two kinds: conservative and
ordinary. The first seeks to so treat the forest that
successive crops may be produced; the second takes no account of
the future. It cuts only the better parts of the trees, often destroying
young and promising trees in so doing.
Lumbering in the United States in usually carried on at quite a
distance from habitation. A camp is, therefore, prepared at a spot
convenient for the logging operators. Here the men eat and sleep.
A lumberman selects the trees which are to be cut and marks
them with a hatchet to prevent mistakes.
These trees are felled either with the ax or saw, sometimes both.
Fig. 205. When the trees are down, the lower branches and top are
trimmed off with axes, after which the trunks are sawed into logs of
convenient length.

Fig. 206.
HAULING SPRUCE LOGS TO THE SKIDWAY. ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS,
NEW YORK.
 These logs are dragged away and collected in piles. This is called
skidding, Fig. 206. Skidding is usually done with horses or oxen.
From these piles the logs are loaded upon sleds, Fig. 207, and
hauled to the place from which they are loaded on cars, rolled into a
stream or otherwise transferred to the sawmill. Fig. 208 illustrates a
method used in the south which combines skidding and hauling.

Fig. 207.
LOAD OF WHITE PINE LOGS, HUBBARD CO., MINNESOTA.
 Fig. 208.
HAULING LOGS BY MULE TEAM NEAR OCILLA, GEORGIA.

Logs are transported to the sawmill in various ways: They may be

loaded on cars, and hauled to the millpond, Figs. 209 and 210. They
may be floated down some stream. Where a stream is not deep they
are often collected in the bed just below a specially prepared dam
called a splash-dam. When the dam is opened the sudden flood
carries them along. Logs are often made into rafts where the stream
is large and deep or they may be floated singly. Men called log or
river drivers accompany these logs. It is their duty to break up any
jams which the logs may form. River-driving is dangerous work and
requires great daring on the part of the men. They must learn to
balance themselves on floating, rolling logs.
 Fig. 209.
LOADED TRAIN OF LONGLEAF PINE, BARHAM, LOUISIANA.

When a log jam is broken the logs go out with a great rush and the
driver must make his escape as best he can.
122. Milling.—If the sawmill is located upon the banks of a
running stream the logs are enclosed by a log boom
until they are wanted for sawing. Fig. 211. Log booms are made by
chaining logs together and stretching them across the river; they are
to the enclosed logs what fences are to cattle.
Soaking logs in water helps to clean the wood. The mineral matter
which is soluble is washed out. Fig. 212.
 Fig. 210.
UNLOADING LOGS FROM TRAIN, PINOGRANDE, CALIFORNIA.

Three kinds of saws are in common use in cutting logs into

lumber: circular, band and gang. Circular saws cut faster than band-
saws but are rather wasteful because they cut such a wide kerf. A
large circular saw frequently cuts a kerf one-quarter of an inch wide.
Gang saws cut out several boards at the same time. Band-saws,
because of their economy, are displacing the others.
The common forms into which logs are sawed are timbers, planks
and boards. Timbers refer to the larger pieces such as are used for
framing; planks are wide pieces over one and one-half inches thick;
and boards are wide pieces less than one and one-half inches thick.
At the mill the log is drawn from the water, up a slide, Fig. 213, by
an endless chain. In the mill it is inspected for stones and spikes and
then measured. Next it is automatically pushed out of the slip upon a
sloping platform called the log deck where it is held by a stop until it
is wanted at the saw.
 Fig. 211.
THE GLENS FALLS BOOM, HUDSON RIVER, NEW YORK.
 Fig. 212.
LOG POND NEAR OCILLA, GEORGIA.
 Fig. 214.
DOUBLE CUT SAW MILL, PINOGRANDE, CALIFORNIA.

When the carriage is empty the stop is withdrawn and at the same
time revolves so as to throw the log upon the carriage. Iron hooks
called dogs are then fastened in the log in such a way that it cannot
turn. Fig. 214. The carriage and log move toward the saw and a slab
is cut off the log. A reversing lever takes the carriage back; again the
log is moved to the saw. This is repeated until a few boards are cut
off. The more modern band saws have teeth on each edge of the
blade so that the log is cut as the carriage moves backward as well
as when it moves forward.
 Fig. 213.
LOG SLIDE AT A MILL IN SOUTHERN GEORGIA.
 The dogs are released and the log is given a half turn on the
carriage by means of a steam “canter.” The side from which the slab
and boards were sawed is placed against the knees—the standards
or uprights of the carriage—and the log again dogged. The opposite
slab and a few more boards are sawed off after which the log is
given a quarter turn and all but a few boards taken off.
A half turn of the log and the final sawings are made.
A series of “live” rolls—rolls which revolve in one direction—carry
off the boards. The rough edged boards, which constitute about one-
third of the whole number, are held by stops and finished on saws
called edgers.
The boards are now passed on to a trimmer or jump saw and cut
to standard lengths. Timbers are trimmed to length by a butting saw.
Slabs are sawed to a length of four feet one inch on a slasher. These
slabs are sawed into laths, pickets, or blocks the length of a shingle,
called shingle bolts. From these bolts shingles are sawed.
123. Quarter Sawing.—Fig. 215 shows a common way of sawing
“quarter sawed” lumber.
 Fig. 215.

The faces of most of the boards are cut nearly parallel to the
medullary rays, these rays come to the surface at small angles and
make the beautiful spotting often seen in oak and sycamore.
Quarter-sawed boards do not warp or twist as much as the plain
sawed because the annual rings are perpendicular to the face.
124. Waste.—Attached to every sawmill will be found tower-like
structures from the tops of which smoke issues, Fig.
216. These are called burners and into them are thrown thousands
of tons of waste wood. Waste wood is used as fuel for the engines
and for many other purposes but there still remains much that is
burned as the cheapest way to get rid of it.
 Fig. 216.
A MODERN SAWMILL, SHOWING REFUSE BURNER.

125. Lumber Transportation.—Sawed lumber is transported to

the yards in various ways. It is
loaded and carried by boats, by cars, and in some places is floated
to its destination in narrow wooden troughs called flumes.
On the Pacific coast mills are frequently built out over the water on
piles so that the lumber is loaded directly from the saws. Frequently
lumber is formed into rafts and towed to its destination in a manner
similar to that of the log rafts of the Pacific.
126. Seasoning.—There are two methods of drying wood, in
common use: air drying and kiln-drying.
When lumber reaches its destination it is sorted and graded
according to lumbermen’s standards, after which, it is loaded upon
trucks and hauled to the storage yards.
Here, it is so placed that air can get at the four sides of each piece
and evaporate the water held by the “green” lumber. This is called air
seasoning. The time necessary to season a piece of lumber so that it
may be used for high-grade work depends upon the kind of wood, its
shape and size, the condition of the atmosphere, etc.
Two, three, and even four years are often required; the longer the
better, provided it is kept dry.

Fig. 217.
KILN DRYING TUPELO, IONIA, MICHIGAN.

It will never become perfectly dry because of the moisture in the

air itself. Because of the slowness of this method of seasoning,
millmen resort to artificial means. The lumber, as it is needed, is shut
up in a room heated by steam. Fig. 217 shows the method of
“sticking” lumber in preparing it for the kiln.
 High temperature, no matter how much moisture may be
contained in the air, will evaporate water from wood.
Green, or fresh sap-wood may be partially seasoned by boiling it
in hot water or by steaming it.
Pine, spruce, cypress, cedar, etc., may be placed in the kiln as
soon as sawed, four days for one inch thick boards being sufficient
to dry them. Hard woods, such as oak, maple, birch, etc., are usually
allowed to “air season” for a period of from three to six months
before being placed in the kiln. Six to ten days additional kiln-drying
is allowed them.
The usual temperature for kilns is from 158 to 180 degrees Fahr.
Hardwoods lose moisture so slowly that to place them in the kiln
directly from the saw would cause them to shrink very unevenly and
hence make them subject to serious “checks”.
Lumber is frequently steamed to prevent its checking and “case
hardening” while being kiln dried.
127. Lumber Terms and Measurements.—“Clear” lumber is
lumber which is free
from knots and sapwood.
“Dressed” lumber or “surfaced” or “sized” lumber is lumber which
has passed thru the planer.
The unit of measure is the board-foot which is one inch thick and
twelve inches square. Boards less than one inch thick are sold by
the square foot, face measure.
Shingles and lath are sold by the bundle. Moldings are sold by
“running” or lineal measure.
Prices are usually based upon the thousand feet; thus, 200 feet,
1st, clear, S2S, (sized or surfaced on two sides) at $47 per M.
 CHAPTER XII.
Common Woods.

128. Classification.—According to botanical classification, woods

belong to the Flowering Plants
(Phanerogamia). Classified further we have:
(1) Naked seeds (gymnosperms)
1. Palm ferns, etc. (cycadaceæ)
2. Joint firs (gnetaceæ)
3. Pines, firs, etc. (conifers)
(2) Fruits (angiosperms)
1. One-seed-leaf (monocotyledons)
(Bamboos, palms, grasses, etc.)
2. Two-seed-leaf (dicotyledons)
a. Herbs.
b. Broad-leafed trees.
(oak, ash, elm, etc.)
Conifers and broad-leaved trees are alike in that they add a new
layer of wood each year which covers the old wood of root, trunk and
branch. They are known as exogens—outward growers.
In woods such as the palms, bamboos, and yuccas, growth is
made from within.
The new wood strands mingle with the old and cause the cross
sections to appear dotted, Fig. 218. Trees of this class—endogens—
after some years of growth form harder wood near the surface with
younger and softer growth toward the center—quite the reverse of
the exogens. There are no annual rings. Growth takes place mainly
at the top.
Other classifications, such as deciduous, “hard woods,”
“evergreens,” “soft woods,” are in common use but are not very
accurate.
 Fig. 218.

Deciduous trees are the broad-leaved trees and are so called

because they lose their leaves in the fall. Broad-leaved trees are
also called hard woods.
Conifers are called evergreens because their needle-shaped
leaves remain green on the tree the year around. They are also
known as soft woods.
Most of our timber is furnished by (1) the needle-leaved conifers
and (2) the broad-leaved trees.

Coniferous Woods.[1]
[1]
The descriptive matter in small type is quoted, by permission, from a
report of the Division of Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Washington, D. C.
 Fig. 219.

129. Cedar.—Fig. 219. Light, soft, stiff, not strong, of fine texture; sap and
heartwood distinct, the former lighter, the latter a dull grayish brown, or red. The
wood seasons rapidly, shrinks and checks but little, and is very durable. Used like
soft pine, but owing to its great durability preferred for shingles, etc. Small sizes
used for posts, ties, etc. (Since almost all kinds of wood are used for fuel and
charcoal, and in the construction of fences, barns, etc., the enumeration of these
uses has been omitted in this list.) Cedars usually occur scattered, but they form,
in certain localities, forests of considerable extent.
130. Cypress.—Fig. 220. Cypress wood in appearance, quality, and uses is
similar to white cedar. “Black cypress” and “white cypress” are heavy and light
forms of the same species. The cypress is a large deciduous tree occupying much
of the swamp and overflow land along the coast and rivers of the Southern States.