309 



the forests on the mountains not only for offering you refreshing 

 water, but water whenever you are thirsty and want it. If there 

 were no forests on the mountians back of Honokihi, when the 

 rain fell it would rush down the slopes, into the valleys, and out 

 to sea as a mass of dirty water, and in a few days it would all 

 be done. But with our forests on the mountains it is different. 

 The rain strikes the leaves and tree branches and then falls onto 

 the ferns and bushes and finally onto the ground covered with 

 fallen leaves and moss. All of this retards the run-off of the 

 rain water and the litter on the ground acts as a sponge from 

 which the water oozes out slowly. Water falling on a galvanized 

 iron or shingle roof runs right off into the gutters, but if you 

 covered that roof with moss or gunny sacks you would find that 

 the water would run off much less at a time and would continue 

 for a much longer period. So it is with a mountain-side covered 

 with forest trees. The run-off from the rain is much slower and 

 lasts for a longer time than if there were no forest cover. 



Without the forests on our mountains, our water supply would 

 be much less and of poorer quality, and there would be times 

 when there wouldn't be any water at all. Without our forests, 

 there would not be enough water for irrigating the sugar cane 

 fields, and this industry would not be the mainstay of our islands ; 

 there would be little or no rice cultivation, and most of our taro 

 patches would be dry. The freshets would dash down from the 

 mountains a great mass of rocks and rubbish, you would seldom 

 have any clear drinking water, and these islands would be a very 

 unpleasant place in which to live. 



Because the people of China long ago were careless in cutting 

 down most of their forests, today in that country there are in 

 the rainy season terrible floods which inundate and destroy the 

 lands and kill many of the people. 



The influence of forests on streams alone, besides preventing 

 floods and drought, therefore, makes the raising of crops possible, 

 and without crops we could not live. 



As man is the most highly organized portion of the animal 

 world, so is the forest the most highly organized portion of the 

 vegetable world. The trees, of which the forest is composed, 

 have functions similar to the workings of the human body. 

 Their roots take water and mineral substances from the soil, 

 which is pumped up to the leaves, which work it over with the 

 aid of the sun and combine it with carbon from the carbonic acid 

 gas in the air, into food which is sent to the living parts in the 

 roots, trunk and crown to assist in the growth of the tree. This 

 food is digested in the leaves of the tree just as food is digested 

 in the human body. 



So trees may be considered to be almost human. At least they 

 are our friends, as I have told you already, because of what they 

 do for us and supply us with, and they should therefore be treated 

 bv us as kind and useful friends. Don't throw sticks and stones 



