Exposed Forest Tracts. 53 



be so, possibly be some criterion as to the degree 

 of shelter enjoyed by any particular locality. 



There are vast tracts of forest in the high lands 

 of Ceylon, and all along the crests of the Western 

 ghauts of Southern India, which would be admir- 

 ably adapted for the culture of coffee, tea, cinchona, 

 and probably other valuable products, but for their 

 being exposed to the full violence of the monsoon, 

 a circumstance which will no doubt insure their 

 preservation. This appears to be one of those wise 

 providential arrangements which an advancing 

 science enables us to recognize, it being well-known 

 that the wholesale destruction of forests is one of 

 the greatest misfortunes that can happen in 

 countries within the tropics, whose welfare and 

 prosperity are in every case to a very large extent 

 dependent upon rainfall. This fact was either un- 

 known or disregarded in many parts of the world 

 until within recent years, but every one now under- 

 stands that disforesting exercises an important 

 effect upon the climate, reducing atmospheric 

 humidity and rainfall, and still further diminishing 

 water supply by causing the springs and streams to 

 dry up. It may, therefore, be supposed that were 

 the forest tracts above referred to, to be gradually 

 cleared away for the purpose of cultivation, the 

 results to the country at large would be disastrous, 

 while the coffee planters would themselves be the 



