192 
A Rain Tree.—Dr. G. V. Perez, of Teneriffe, has sent us the 
following abridged translation of an article contributed by him 
to the Spanish paper ‘‘ Real Sociedad Espaiiola de los Amigos 
del Arbol,’’ No. 77, January, 1918, on how trees in a forest where 
mists usually form, precipitate water to a very remarkable extent. 
The famous rain-tree in the Island of Ferro, Canaries, 
Dr. Perez writes, grew “‘ on a headland where the mountain mists 
from the Trade winds collected, and by means of water tanks 
under it, the poor inhabitants of that island, where there are ne 
““ How the mist collected over Table Mountain, south of Cape 
Town, is compared by travellers to a tablecloth; these clouds 
form more in the summer or rainless months when the S.E. winds 
blow harder. 
“Dr. Marloth’s experiments by means of two rain gauges, one 
representing the forest, are quoted, showing that from Dec. 1902 
to Feb. 1903 nearly 80 in. (2 metres) of water was collected 
in the rain gauge representing the forest and very little in the 
other. 
altitude, where the evergreen forest of the Atlantic Islands 
grows best and amongst them a laurel called Til, which was 
undoubtedly the famous Garoe or Holy of the Island of 
which actually supplied that fountainless island 
drinking water for the inhabitants until a ¢t down 
Anybody who has gone through a forest in the Canaries 
covered with mist can bear witness as to how much water is 
condensed by the foliage where trees grow. 
