TOREENTS IN" FRANCE. 241 



condition of the provinces in questionj and trace the progress of 

 their conversion from forest-crowned hills, luxuriant pasture 

 grounds, and abundant corn-fields and vineyards well watered by 

 springs and fertilizing rivulets, to bald mountain ridges, rocky 

 declivities, and steep earth-banks fmTOwed by deep ravines with 

 beds now dry, now filled by torrents of fluid mud and gravel 

 hurrying down to spread themselves over the plain, and dooming 

 to everlasting barrenness the once productive fields. In survey- 

 ing such scenes, it is difficult to resist the impression that 

 natm-e pronounced a primal curse of perpetual sterihty and deso- 

 lation upon these sublime but fearful wastes, difficult to beheve 

 that they were once, and but for the folly of man might stiU be, 

 blessed with all the natural advantages which Providence has 

 bestowed upon the most favored climes. But the historical evi- 

 dence is conclusive as to the destructive changes occasioned by 

 the agency of man upon the flanks of the Alps, the Apennines, 

 the Pyrenees, and other mountain ranges in Central and 

 Southern Europe, and the progress of physical deterioration has 

 been so rapid that, in some localities, a single generation has wit- 

 nessed the beginning and the end of the melancholy revolution. 



I have stated, in a general way, the nature of the evils in ques- 

 tion, and of the processes by which they are produced ; but I 

 shall make their precise character and magnitude better under- 

 stood by presenting some descriptive and statistical details of 

 facts of actual occurrence. I select for this purpose the south- 

 eastern portion of France, not because that territory has suffered 

 more severely than some others, but because its deterioration is 

 comparatively recent, and has been watched and described by 

 very competent and trustworthy observers, whose reports are 

 more easily accessible than those pubHshed in other countries.* 



* Streffleur ( Ueber die Natur und die WirJcungen der Wildhdche, p. 3) main- 

 tains that all the observations and speculations of French authors on the 

 nature of torrents had been anticipated by Austrian writers. In proof of this 

 assertion he refers to the works of Franz von ZaUinger, 1778 ; Von Arretin, 

 1808 ; Franz Duile, 1826, aU published at Innsbruck, and Hagen's Beschrei- 

 hung neuerer Wasserhamoerlce, Kftnigsberg, 1826, none of which works are 

 known to me. It is evident, however, that the conclusions of Surell and 

 other French writers whom I cite, are original results of personal investiga- 

 tion, and not borrowed opinions. 

 11 



