December 18, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



871 



roaring muddy torrents come tearing down, 

 bringing disaster and destruction every- 

 where. 



Moreover, these floods and freshets, which 

 diversify the general dryness, wash away 

 from the mountain sides, and either wash 

 away or cover in the valleys, the rich fertile 

 soil which it took tens of thousands of years 

 for nature to form; and it is lost forever, 

 and until the forests grow again it can not 

 be replaced. The sand and stones from the 

 mountain sides are washed loose and come 

 rolling down to cover the arable lands, and 

 in consequence, throughout this part of 

 China, many formerly rich districts are 

 now sandy wastes, useless for human cul- 

 tivation and even for pasture. The cities 

 have been, of course, seriously affected, for 

 the streams have gradually ceased to be 

 navigable. There is testimony that even 

 within the memory of men now living there 

 has been a serious diminution of the rain- 

 fall in northeastern China. The level of 

 the Sungari Eiver, in northern Manchuria, 

 has been sensibly lowered during the last 

 fifty years, at least partly as the result of 

 indiscriminate cutting of the forests form- 

 ing its watershed. Almost all the rivers of 

 northern China have become uncontrollable, 

 and very dangerous to the dwellers along 

 their banks, as a direct result of the de- 

 struction of the forests. The journey from 

 Peking to Jehol shows in melancholy 

 fashion how the soil has been washed away 

 from whole valleys, so that they have been 

 converted into deserts. 



In northern China this disastrous process 

 has gone on so long and has proceeded so 

 far that no complete remedy could be ap- 

 plied. There are certain mountains in 

 China from which the soil is gone so 

 utterly that only the slow action of the 

 ages could again restore it, although of 

 course much could be done to prevent the 

 still further eastward extension of the 



Mongolian Desert if the Chinese govern^ 

 ment would act at once. The accompany- 

 ing cuts from photographs show the incon- 

 ceivable desolation of the barren mountains 

 in which certain of these rivers rise — 

 mountains, be it remembered, which for- 

 merly supported dense forests of larches 

 and firs, now unable to produce any wood, 

 and because of their condition a source of 

 danger to the whole country. 



The photographs also show the same 

 rivers after they have passed through the 

 mountains, the beds having become broad 

 and sandy because of the deforestation of 

 the mountains. One of the photographs 

 shows a caravan passing through a valley. 

 Formerly, when the mountains were for- 

 ested, it was thickly peopled by prosperous 

 peasants. Now the floods have carried de- 

 struction all over the land and the valley 

 is a stony desert. Another photograph 

 shows a mountain road covered with the 

 stones and rocks that are brought down in 

 the rainy season from the mountains, 

 which have already been deforested by 

 human hands. Another shows a pebbly 

 river bed in southern Manchuria, where 

 what was once a great stream has dried 

 up owing to the deforestation in the moun- 

 tains. Only some scrubwood is left, which 

 will disappear within a half century. Yet 

 another shows the effect of one of the 

 washouts, destroying an arable mountain 

 side, these washouts being due to the re- 

 moval of all vegetation; yet in this photo- 

 graph the foreground shows that reforesta- 

 tion is still a possibility in places. 



What has thus happened in northern 

 China, what has happened in central Asia, 

 in Palestine, in north Africa, in parts of 

 the Mediterranean countries of Europe, 

 will surely happen to our country if we do 

 not exercise that wise forethought which 

 should be one of the chief marks of any 

 people calling itself civilized. Nothing 

 should be permitted to stand in the way of 



