ErrECTS OF rOEEST YEGETATIOIS' OX CLIMATE. 181 



wten ill the autumn of 1873, the Hon. Mr. Barlee, Colonial Secre- 

 tary of Western Australia, and myself looked down from the 

 edge of the escarpment over the relics of the beautiful jungle 

 that once nearly covered the whole space in that part of the 

 Illawarra which lies between Rixon's Pass and the ocean at 

 Bulli, when we found that that most lovely patch of greenery, 

 containing plants that are now being eradicated altogether, was in 

 possession of a Company, who were about to undermine it in 

 search for coal. I only regret that Mr. Moore's engagements 

 have hitherto prevented his intention of describing the plants in 

 that isolated patch and bringing its features before this Society. 

 Hoping he may yet realise his intention, I will omit any further 

 allusion to the scene. 



The paper of Mr. Eussell had distinct reference to droughts 

 and floods ; and in seeking to discover whether any and what 

 periodicity exists respecting them in Australia, he made no allu- 

 sion to any possible effect of our forest vegetation on climate. 

 That there may be such effects, however feeble in comparison 

 with the more formidable cosmical operations of nature produc- 

 ing atmospheric and meteoric phenomena, I firmly believe : and 

 in order to justify my own conclusions I will refer to and quote 

 the statements and deductions of other observers, who are enti- 

 tled to the fullest reliance. 



It is well known that many regions which were fertile in 

 ancient times have since become desert, and that countries which 

 were incapable of bearing fruit are now amongst the best wine- 

 growing districts in the world. 



Various causes have, no doubt, operated on the large scale in 

 some regions beyond what we are now specially concerned with : 

 and a passing remark may be made that, whereas in older geolo- 

 gical epochs Coal measure vegetation, and in younger down to 

 the Miocene era, as shown by Professor Heer, a rich flora 

 extended over large portions of the Arctic regions, Greenland, 

 which since a.d. 1348 has been blocked up by ice, then being- 

 covered by forest vegetation ; so in times of Biblical history 

 the waste treeless tracts of Syria, Egypt, and Palestine were 

 well wooded, and fertilised by living streams — the present barren 

 Wadys occupying oftentimes the channels of once strong run- 

 ning waters. Tacitus (^Germania, v.) tells us that fruit trees 

 would not thrive in the very country Avhere now the vine is most 

 luxuriant. He calls it frugiferarum arbor um impatiens. 



" If we ask," says Professor Schleiden, in his most delightful 

 work "Die Planze, The Plant, a Biography," "the cause of this 

 mighty change, we are directed to the disappearance of the forests. 

 With the careless destruction of the growth of trees man inter- 

 feres, to alter the natural conditions of a country. We can, 

 indeed, now raise one of tlie finest wines upon the Ehine, where 



