1 44 LEGISLATION ON TORRENTS. 



And, ha-ving done this, he proceeded to draw a fascinating picture of the 

 wide-spread felicity which was to follow the execution of the project. 



He had previously given the saddening picture of D^voluy, which I 

 have cited in the Introduction. And he proceeds to show what had been 

 done in France when it was perceived that the fruits of the country were 

 being destroyed ; he details the evils which followed in the train of that 

 destruction, the alleviations of these secured by the inhabitants of the 

 plains, but which were unattainable by the inhabitants of the mountains, 

 and the privations to which they had been in consequence reduced. 



" There may be seen," says he, " here in one small valley (that of 

 Lagrave) the inhabitants reduced to the necessity, in order to heat their 

 houses and cook their provisions, to burn cow-dung formed into bricks and 

 hardened in the sunshine. This disreputable fuel saturates with its smoke 

 their huts, their clothes, the air which they breathe, and even the food 

 which they eat — ^the whole atmosphere of the country is filled with it. 

 Now if they have recourse to such a fuel, it is not that the country is 

 absolutely devoid of fuel; it is, on the contrary, very richly supplied, as 

 there are many beds of anthracite under active exploitation. But one may 

 easily imagine that this mineral, being very heavy, if it be necessarj!' to 

 transport it on the backs of mules or of men to great elevations, across 

 rocks and perilous slopes, the fatigue and consequent price of transport will 

 raise the cost of it to such a point that the great bulk of the poor people 

 must renounce the use of it. And the consequence is, these mines, which 

 would be so valuable in a plain, here benefit only such of the inhabitants as 

 live in the immediate vicinity of them, and they remain almost unused by 

 all living beyond a radius of some leagues from the spot." 



He contends that, in order that the mountains may be habitable, they 

 must be wooded ; and that the total annihilation of forests will necessitate 

 the emigration of the population. But the difference between the destruc- 

 tion of forests on the njountains and on the plains, says he, stops not here. 

 " If a forest disappear on the plain it is to give place to agriculture, it is the 

 substitution of one product of the soil for another, and the substitution 

 often leaves nothing to be regretted. But if, on the other hand, you fell an 

 old forest which covers the flanks of a mountain, immediately everything is 

 upset and overturned. The storms and the ravines cut up the slopes, the 

 vegetable soil is soon washed away, and with it all fertility and verdure. 

 No more fields ! No more cultivation ! Delivered defenceless to the 

 attacks of the waters, eaten down to its very entrails by the torrents, and 

 sinking at last under its own weight, the mountain, as if crushed and spread 

 out, is seen rolling its material into the plain, and this it buries under its 

 debris and involves in its own ruin. It is true, it happens here as in the 

 plains, that wood is every day felled to free soil for the plough, and those 

 who root out the trees only do so for the profit which follows. But we 

 must not confound the ephemeral and iUusory profits which are obtained by 

 them with the lasting advantage and real benefit which follow such 

 operations in the plains. 



" The first years following immediately the rooting up of trees on a moun- 

 tain produce excellent crops, because of the quantity of humus left behind them 

 in the soil by the trees. But this valuable eaxth, the less stable in propor- 

 tion as it is productive, does not remain long on the slopes ; at the end of a 

 short time it is dispersed, the sterile subsoil makes its appearance, and the 

 unreasonable proprietor loses his property from having wished to constrain 



