18 INTBODTIOTION. 



j-ecent changes in the character of the Mella — a river anciently so remark- 

 able for the gentleness of its currents that it was specially noticed by 

 Catullus as flowing molle ^Mmeme— deserves more than a passing remark. 

 This river rises in the mountain chain east of Lake Iseo, and traversing the 

 district of Brescia, empties into the Oglio after a course of about seventy 

 miles. The iron-works in the upper valley of the Mella had long created a 

 considerable demand for wood, but their operations were not so extensive as 

 to occasion any very sudden or general destruction of the forests, and the 

 only evil experienced from the clearings was the gradual diminution of the 

 volume of the river. Within the last thirty years the superior qualities of 

 the arms manufactured at Brescia has greatly enlarged the sale of them, 

 and very naturally stimulated the activity of both the forges and of the 

 colliers who supply them, and the hill-sides have been rapidly striped of 

 their timber. Up to 1850 no destructive inundation of the Mella had been 

 recorded. Buildings in great numbers had been erected upon its margin, 

 and its valley was conspicuous for its rural beauty and for its fertility. 

 But when the denudation of the mountains had reached a certain point, 

 avenging nature began the work of retribution. In the spring and summer 

 of 1850 several new torrents were suddenly formed in the upper tributary 

 valleys, and on the 14th and 15th of August in that year a fall of rain, not 

 heavier than had been often experienced, produced a flood which not only 

 inundated much ground never before overflowed, but destroyed a great 

 number of bridges, dams, factories, and other valuable structures, and what 

 was a far more serious evil, swept ofi' from the rocks an incredible extent 

 of soil, and converted one of the most beautiful valleys of the Italian Alps 

 into a ravine almost as bare and barren as the savagest gorge of Southern 

 France. The pecuniary damage was estimated at many millions of francs ; 

 and the violence of the catastrophe was deemed so extraordinary, even in a 

 country subject to similar visitations, that the sympathy excited for the 

 sufierers produced in five months voluntary contributions for their relief 

 to the amount of nearly 200,000 dollars, or £40,000." 

 The rendering of Job xiv. 18-19 in the Vu.lgate is, — 



" Mons cadens definit, et saxum transfertur de loco suo ; lapides excavant aquae et 



alluvione paullatim terra consumiture." 



" The mountain crumbling down comes to an end ; and the rook is removed from 



its place ; the -waters undermine the stones ; and by inundation 



little by little the land is laid waste." 



This is accurately descriptive of the action of the torrent, and this the author 

 of the pamphlet has prefixed as a motto to his narrative. By Mr Marsh it is 

 stated, — " The recent date of the change in the character of the Mella is 

 contested, and it is possible that though the extent of the revolution is not 

 exaggerated, the rapidity with which it has taken place may have been." 



From such independent testimony inregardtosimilarphenomena presenting 

 themselves elsewhere, it may be seen that there is nothing incredible in the 

 published reports of the state to which the High Alps had been brought 

 before the operation of reboisement was commenced with a view to 

 arrest the evil. 



It is with a view of promoting the adoption of a similar remedy for cor- 

 responding evils manifesting themselves in other lands that this compilation 

 has been made. Anticipating that the aridity and limited average rainfall 



