842 Major F. Bailey's Forest Tour 



through the Ceveiines mountains, and rises very rapidly, 

 the scene reminding us of parts of the Himalaya, and 

 the stream-bed filled with silt telling its own tale of the 

 denudation of the hills through which it runs. There are 

 terraced fields, with chestnut and other fruit trees growing 

 on the steep ground between them, which is supported in 

 places by small, rough, dry-stone retaining walls ; but, 

 except in one or two places near Genolhac, there are no 

 forests to be seen. 



The 5th of May was the last day of our tour. We 

 rose early, and accompanied by M. Dhombres, the con- 

 servator, and MM. Fabre and L'Abb^, the inspector and 

 sub-inspector, commenced the asceni of Mont Lozere, to 

 visit the afforestation works going on there. Four ponies 

 were brought for the elders of the party. They were about 

 fourteen hands high, framed like little cart-horses, and 

 were models of what a hill pony ought to be. One felt 

 that one's weight was a mere trifle to them, and they 

 were as sure-footed as mules. 



Regarding the climate of these mountains generally, it 

 may be said that there is little or no rain from February 

 to September, the heat and drought during the height of 

 summer being very great, and the temperature rising to 

 104° Fahrenheit. Then, in September, there are hurricanes 

 of wind, followed by deluges of rain, the average annual 

 fall being 80 inches. These storms are said to be caused by 

 the meeting of moisture-charged air currents from the 

 ocean and the Mediterranean ; they burst with great 

 violence, occasionally as much as 18 inches of rain falling 

 within a single period of twenty-four hours.* Such a flood 

 as this washes down the hillsides, and the streams rise 

 with incredible rapidity, causing great loss of life and 

 property. If it be added that large droves of sheep are 

 annually brought up from the hot southern plain to graze in 

 these hills, it will not be hard to understand that overcut- 

 ting of the forests, which once clothed the mountain slopes, 

 has led to their almost complete disappearance ; and it is 

 on this account that the works we were about to visit 

 have been undertaken. That the forests remained as long 



* It is said that in 1866, 18 inches of rain fell at Bleymard in twenty-four 

 hours, the total fall during three successive days being 24 inches. 



