the effects of the cutting-down of forests on the climate and 

 health of Mauritius." Still in 1854- the island was resorted to 

 by invalids from India as the " pearl " of the Indian Ocean, 

 it being then one mass of verdure. When the forests were 

 cleared to gain space for sugar cultivation, the rainfall dimin- 

 ished even there; the rivers dwindled down to muddy streams; 

 the water became stagnant in cracks, crevices and natural 

 hollows, while the equable temperature of the island entirely 

 changed; even drought was experienced in the midst of the 

 ocean, and thunder-showers were rarely any longer witnessed. 

 The lagoons, marshes and swamps along the seaboard were 

 no longer filled with water, but gave off noxious gases; while 

 the river waters became impure from various refuse. After a 

 violent inundation in February, 1865, followed by a period of 

 complete dryness, fever of a low type set in, against which the 

 remedies employed in ordinary febrile cases proved utterly 

 valueless. From the waterless sides of the lagoons pestilen- 

 tial malaria arose, exposed to which the labourers fell on the 

 field, and in some instances died within a few hours after- 

 wards. But scarcitjr of good food among the destitute classes, 

 and inadequate sewage arrangement, predisposed also to the 

 dreadful effect of the fever at the time. As stated by myself 

 on a former public occasion, marshes should either be fully 

 drained, or the means of continuing them submerged should 

 not be withdrawn. Dr. Rogers very properly insists that the 

 plateaux and highlands of Mauritius must be replanted, alone 

 on sanitary reasons. The small island of Malta requires at 

 this moment to make strenuous effort for wood culture, to 

 render tillage further possible and the clime more tolerable. 

 The once forest-covered hills, which bordered the rich garden 

 country of Murcia in Moorish times, are now masses of arid 

 rocks; while Spain now-a-days is even helpless to obtain its 

 very fuel, and thus all its technologic industries must lan- 

 guish. No wonder, then, if our here much-disregarded euca- 

 lypts are called there the trees of the future. 



But I have, on this occasion, dwelt already long enough on 

 the stern necessity of securing a due relation of forest to terri- 

 tory, of woods to climate, of timber to industries. These 

 great questions have been discussed by able men through time 

 long passed in all countries of civilisation. The details, 

 moreover, of such discussions demand a special and fuller 

 teaching, for which, perhaps, opportunities may yet arise in 

 this hall. But to those who wish early to devote fuller 

 attention to vital considerations of this kind, I would recom- 



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