243 DEVASTATIONS OOOASIONED BY TORRENTS. 



primarily designed ; and it was sought to effect this by so regulating the 

 flow of the water as to diminish its power of erosion, and of undermining the 

 confining banks of the torrent. With this effected, it was considered that 

 the extinction of the torrent would follow in the course of time, but that 

 by reboisemenf the work might be so expedited as to accomplish within a 

 few years what otherwise it might have required decades to effect, — and 

 within a decade what might have required a century. And with this in 

 view, the production of timber, and the securing of large and early 

 pecuniary returns from the sale of forest produce, were considered of but 

 secondary importance compared with the prevention of the crumbling away 

 of the mountains. In the prevention of this, and of direful consequences 

 which might follow — the destruction of houses and lands by the ravages of 

 the torrents, the devastation of the valleys, with their houses and fruitful 

 fields, by covering them with the debris, and the inundations of the 

 plains below, destroying life and property to an extent to aflPect materially 

 the national resources — was compensation looked for. And in accordance 

 with this view of the matter have the plantations been managed throughout 

 the period embraced by this report. They have been and are being managed 

 in accordance with the most advanced forest science, and with a business- 

 like view to the reduction of expenditure and the increase of returns ; but 

 all this has been and is being done in subordination to the great objects 

 aimed at — the regulation of the flood, the extinction of the torrent, the 

 conservation of the mountains, and the preservation of the plains ; and the 

 proceeds obtained are looked upon as a set ofi' against the expenditure 

 incurred rather than as a reimbursing revenue. 



In the prevention of the evils referred to there was expected, and in the 

 prevention of these evils it may be said there has been obtained, a return 

 satisfactorily compensating the outlay of thought and labour and money 

 demanded by the enterprise. 



Chap. IV. — Devastations ocoasionbd by Torrents which it was soitght 

 TO Arrest and Prevent, and Measures Employed. 



It was the devastations in the valleys and plains, which were occasioned 

 by torrents, which first caused attention to be given to the subject of 

 reboisement ; and for a time it was the allegation of the mountaineers 

 that the operations were begua and carried on solely in the interests 

 of the dwellers in the plains. 



Details already given show, as was subsequently seen by the mountain 

 population, that they had a beneficiary interest in these operations, as real 

 as that of those for whom they had thought that their interests were being 

 sacrificed. A few more of these may be given. 



M. Ladoucette, in his Ilistoire, l-c, of the High Aljn, writes, — " Saint- 

 Eusfebe, a village of 603 inhabitants, built on an argillaceous layer at an 

 elevation of more than 200 metres, or 650 feet, above the Drac, and at a 

 distance of a kilometre, about two-thirds of a mile, from the river, presents 

 the phenomenon, at once curious and alarming, of the sinking down of this 

 layer.. It is seen distinctly from the royal road along the Drac ; while for 

 some years it was entirely concealed by the elevation of the ground before 

 it. The crevasses, which exist along the whole line, give the unwelcome 

 intimation and assurance that the successive overturns of its terrible neigh- 



