4 



fute of all domestic animals except the dog, are driven to t'te seacoast an^ 

 water-coursee, where by means of rudely constructed canoes they gratify the' 

 human passion for migration to and from their small corn patch, fishing 

 places and hunting grounds'; ia the other, the horse, the camel or even the 

 ox affords the means of wandering over extensile countries of thin grass, or 

 desert sands, in quest of their prey. 



Palestine, a land once " flowing with milk and honey," so full of native' 

 products as to attract the children of Israel from the highly favored plains' 

 of Egypt; "a country which for many ages sustained- a numerous, happy an* 

 prosperous people, is now comparati-vely a barren waste ; its productions' 

 scarcely sufficient for a miserable population dwindled to only one-ten^h of 

 its former numbers. The most careful examination of the soil shows no want 

 of the elements of vegetable growth— it remains as fertile to-day as in the 

 most ancient times, thus showing that we must look to the changes in tfie 

 local condition of the climate, rather than the exhaustion of the soil for the 

 causes of the wonderful changes that have taken place ; and these local 011.1 

 matio changes could only be produced by the indiscriminate destruction of 

 the foroats that originally covered the whole country. 



Egypt and Palestine were once the granary of the worldy but these coun- 

 tries have long since lost their proud position among the nations of the 

 earth. We now claim to hold the keys to the food-production of the country, 

 but we are also in danger of soon losing the position unless we profit by their 

 example. 



WARNINGS OF HISTORY. 

 Warnings from the experience of others may be found nearer home, and 

 in more modern times. According to a recent report, it appears that in 

 Switzerland the forests have been destroyed at such a rste that they do not 

 now yield an adequate supply for the present inhabitants, "the higher 

 mountain re^ons have heretofore been considered the store houses Of *ood 

 for the most populous parts of level Switzerland, and for foreign countries ; 

 but the depredations have been so extensive that many of the inhabitants 

 are now suffering for the want of wood, and some of tfiem are compelled to 

 convey their fuel from six to twelve miles up the mountains, if the future 

 forests, (says this report,) should not be better managed, and their too 

 extensive removal stopped, they would soon be entirely ruined in some 

 parts of these mountain regions, and then there would prevail such a' state 

 of things as already exists in Asia-Minor, Greece, a large portion of Italy, 

 Spain, Southern Prance, &c., where forests abounded in former times. The 

 decrease of fertility on the Alps, and especially on the Upper boundary, the 

 disappearance of the forests in the higher Regions, the unfavorable changes 

 of the weather during the time of vegetation, tie frequent and extensive 

 devastations of floods, avalanches, and precipitation of rocks, and large land- 

 slides on the sides of the mountains, filling up the valleys, are dhiefly oeea- 



