138 KEV. W. WOOLLS, PH.D., F.L.S., ON THE 



in practically working out tlie matter. He has seen deserts 

 clianged into gardens by means of the water thus found. He has 

 met with districts wliere, after the expenditure of much labour 

 and money, the water brought to the surface has been brackish, 

 so as to be destructive instead of beneficial. Whether this same 

 mischief will extend to the districts in South Afnca where water 

 is so much needed I cannot say. As regards injurious influences 

 affecting vegetation, it may be interesting to remember that 

 Sir J. D. Hooker points out, as predominant above all others, 

 the goat. From his travels in various parts of the world, 

 and comparing the present state of the counti'ies through 

 which he has passed with what has been historically reported 

 of them, he feels himself warranted, in saying that the damage 

 done by war is insignificant in comparison Avith the ravages 

 committed by goats. It is much to be regretted that they 

 multiplied so in South Africa. The ancient nations of the East 

 were not very far wrong in regarding the goat as a type of evil. 

 In some parts of Africa the effects they have had in destroying 

 forests are so striking that a detachment of the Cape Mounted 

 Rifles on the march actually cheered when they saw a tree. The 

 way in which the creatures do the mischief is exceedingly simple : 

 they browse off all the young seedlings ; and as the giants of the 

 forest do not live for ever, when they fall and perish there is 

 nothing to take their place. The rainfall then, instead of coming 

 gradually on to the soil, falls on it in terrible deluges, interrupted by 

 long periods of drought, and by its heavy floods washes away the 

 soil, and carries it down into the beds of the rivers, and blocks 

 them up, and compels the waters to spread out of their channels, 

 and thus turn the surrounding districts into swamps. In either 

 way the mischief done is untold. But I am no botanist, and can 

 therefore, unfortunately, not throw any light on the main bubject 

 of Dr. WooUs's paper. 



The Pkksideis'T. — Ladies and gentlemen, I just wish before we 

 close, as time is now far spent, to offer one or two observations only, 

 with your permission. There can be no question about the extreme 

 value and interest of this paper, and I think we may consider that 

 our Society is fortunate in the fact that Ur. Woolls was spared 

 long enough to complete this paper before passing to another and 

 a better world. I think one of the chief interesting points in 

 this paper is the reference to the distribution of the plants of 



