EFFECTS OF DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 413 



coast of Sicily, was navigable, and remained so up' to the Christian 

 era. Mount Ida, from which it then received its waters, was thickly 

 covered with cedars. The cedars having all been cut down, the 

 river gradually dried up and is now no longer in existence. The 

 inundations of the Eurphrates once threatened the city of Babylon; 

 but at the pi'esent time its banks, as well as those of the Ganges, 

 are only deserts and marshes, with scarcely a remnant of their for- 

 mer fertility. The land of Canaan, which the Bible tells us was 

 the most fertile in the world, is now devoid of water and vegeta- 

 tion ; and all this the direct result of the destruction of the forests. 



Caesar tells us, in his commentaries, that Gaul, which he was 

 obliged to penetrate in the prosecution of his wars, was thickly 

 wooded and extremely fertile, and that the climate was soft and 

 pleasant. But the woods, in the progress of civilization and during 

 long wars, having been destroyed, vast territories have become mere 

 swamps and deserts. In modern France, Brittany, Champagne and 

 Poitou were the sites of immense forests. These forests having 

 been destroyed, those regions are now desert wastes, and have 

 been abandoned. 



But if we look at our own times and country, we shall find evi- 

 dences of the same results, though happily not in their full extent. 

 Those who have made this matter the subject of their observations 

 tell us that the supplies of rain over wide regions of the United 

 States are gradually diminishing, and that the climate is perceptibly 

 changing on account of the cutting away of the forests. They also 

 tell us that the mean height of our great rivers, especially the 

 Mississippi, is now much lessened. We all know that inundations 

 are now much more frequent and disastrous ; and this is occasioned 

 by the baking of the earth after denudation, which causes the 

 water of heavy rain storms to run instantly to the great rivers, 

 instead of soaking into the soil. 



But now, remarking that hundreds of examples might be cited, 

 all tending to prove the correctness of our theory, and the vast 

 importance of forests in producing and preserving the necessary 

 moisture of the soil, we will pass on to the cosideration of some 

 other characteristics of trees, still having reference to our subject. 

 Trees give out moisture, and all beneath them being shut out from 

 the full heat of the sun by their foliage, the consequent coolness 

 assists condensation, and by partially preventing evaporation 

 keeps the ground constantly moist, and thus contributes to the 

 ponds and streams. Trees are also said to distil water in great 



