ANCIENT AND MODERN FORESTRY 79 



been 17,110 tons in 1603 and 57,463 in 1660, 

 rose during Charles II. 's reign to 103,558 tons. 

 And it went on steadily increasing, and had risen 

 to 413,667 tons by the end of 1788, while the sup- 

 plies of oak were, on the contrary, rapidly falling. 

 From 197,405 loads of timber fit for the navy in 

 the New Forest in 1608, the supply sank to 19,873 

 in 1707. Under more conservative treatment 

 about Evelyn's time it rose to 36,662 loads in 

 1764, but by 1783 it had fallen lower than ever, 

 to 19,827 loads, or not much more than one-tenth 

 of what it had been less than 180 years before. 

 (Percival Lewis, Historical Inquiries concerning 

 Forests and Forest Laws, 1811, pp. 121, 226). 

 But just as our humid insular climate has saved us 

 from absolute agricultural ruin, such as would have 

 been the certain consequence of excessive clearance 

 of woodlands if we had a climate like that of con- 

 tinental Europe, so too did our ocean communica- 

 tions and our acquisitions in the East Indies save us 

 from what might have been disastrous difficulties 

 about insufficient supplies of oak for our ship- 

 building yards. The pressure of the dockyards 

 was relieved by the shipment of teak wood from 

 Bombay ; and this was the commencement of the 



