58 MODERN FOREST ECONOMY. 



phenomena are studied in the light of the facts which 

 have now been stated. 



It is the magnitude of the evil thus occasioned alone which 

 is here brought under consideration. The history of France, 

 and of other countries on the Continent, embodies accounts 

 of many such inundations in preceding times, and since 

 then, from time to time, like inundations have occurred. 

 The flood of 1875 was the most destructive flood of the 

 century ; but though floods of such magnitude are infre- 

 quent in the valley of the Garrone, scarcely do twenty 

 years ever pass without the occurrence of a flood of serious 

 importance ; and so frequent have they been in the course 

 of the century that to some it has appeared that the 

 periodicity involves a cycle of ten years rather than 

 twenty, as by others had been supposed to be the case. 

 Such seems to be the cycle for the Loire and the Rhone, 

 in which floods occurred in 1846, 1856, 1866, and 1876. 



SUB-SECTION 2. SPAIN. 



In October 1879 great desolation was occasioned in 

 Spain by the Minda and Segura being flooded by a heavy 

 rainfall. It was such that it awoke an interest, and called 

 forth sympathy, throughout Europe, and in lands far 

 remote. 



In the course of the following year the scene of this 

 disaster was visited by a member of my family, my son- 

 in-law, Pastor Fliedner, of Madrid, who has given of it the 

 following account : 



' Nearly a year has passed since the fearful news of the 

 floods in Murcia spread throughout Europe and across the 

 ocean, awaking everywhere sympathy and active help. 

 It may be of interest to our readers to learn something 

 of the force and extent of these floods, of the devastation 

 spread by them, and of the wonderful rescues, and gracious 

 aid of God, from the very scene of the misfortune, whither 

 a tour of evangelisation led us. 



' If to any region in Spain the words " It was like unto 



