WORLD'S TIMBER RESOURCES 225 



dried up after the trees clothing the heights 

 were felled. 



" When Dr. Hooker visited the island in 1843, 

 there was only one tree on it and owing to the 

 want of water scarcely enough vegetables could 

 be grown for the commander's table. In 1861, 

 a large still for sea-water was erected, and pro- 

 gress was made in planting 'trees and shrubs, 

 which had to be grown in nurseries and watered 

 by hand. The mountain was gradually replanted, 

 and in a few years the spring reappeared by 

 degrees and soon regained its former abundant 

 volume. In 1865 there were copses and thickets 

 of some forty kinds of trees in addition to 

 shrubs and fruit trees ; the water supply was 

 ample, while ships calling at the island, as well 

 as the garrison, could depend on regular supplies 

 of vegetables. The island of St. Helena was 

 formerly covered with forest trees, but these 

 were soon destroyed by woodcutters, while the 

 ravages of goats stripped the shrubs and brush- 

 wood from the rocky heights. The denudation 

 of the island was followed by serious droughts 

 which caused great losses of Uve stock and 

 crops. About the close of the eighteenth century 

 great efforts were made to restore the vegetation, 

 and as a result, it is stated, the climatic condition 

 of the island was greatly improved. 



" In Mauritius, during the years 1842 to 1852, 



Q 



