THE HIGH ALPS. 265 



were all being threatened with destruction. Dikes had been constructed 

 along the side of the torrent to protect the plain; but the bed of the 

 torrent rose higher and higher still. It had been necessary to meet this by 

 raising higher and higher the embankment ; and it had now come to pass 

 that the torrent was several metres above the level of the property 

 along the banks. Although it was imprudent to elevate still higher the 

 torrent, a new scheme of embankment, which it was estimated would cost 

 45,000 francs, had been formally discussed; and it was about to be 

 carried out. 



" It was in these circumstances that the torrents of Sainte-Marthe was 

 attacked in 1865 ; from 1863 the whole of the basin, which measures 530 

 hectares, upwards of 200 acres, had been enclosed, mise en defens, with the 

 consent of the Municipal Council of Embrun, though it had been opposed 

 by the inhabitants of the hamlets on the sides of the torrents. These 1 ad 

 in reality the greatest interest of all in the execution of thB works, as their 

 dwellings and their crops, dragged along with the general movement of the 

 soil, were tending towards engulfment in the torrent. 



" The works began with an improvement of the basin. Two years of 

 enclosure had prepared the ground. All the ravines were cut up into 

 portions by more than 200 harrages ; channels to lead off and disperse the 

 water were cut ; and seeds of forage plants were sown over places which 

 required them. 



" Attention was then given to the consolidation of the hills bordering the 

 eanal d'ecoulement. With this view there were constructed, first, strong 

 harrages in the upper-lying parts of these. The years 1865, 1866, and 

 1867, were employed in securing the command of the head of the torrent, 

 and diminishing the violence of the flood. It would have been imprudent 

 and almost impossible to construct harrages in the middle of the black sUme 

 of the lower-lying portion of the cxbnal (Pecoulement, inasmuch as the force of 

 the flood would not have been sufficiently reduced at that time. 



" In 1868 it was considered that the last part of the work might be taken 

 up with some chance of success. If matters had been less pressing this 

 might have been deferred for one or two years more ; but it was deemed of 

 importance that the results should be made apparent. 



" In constructing the lower series of harrages, the work was begun anew 

 from below, instead of being continued from above. First, there were 

 planted at the lower extremity strong harrages capable of withstanding the 

 strongest floods. Others were then constructed successfully further up the 

 torrent, and pretty near to each other, that each might give support to the 

 one above it. And in proportion as land was gained by each barrage, the 

 hills were cut into shape by the pick-axe to give them the angle of stability. 



" In the same time that the principal thalweg was thus being consolidated, 

 boisement and gazonnement were carried on on the lateral slopes. The 

 ravines were choked with small harrages of stones, with hurdles, and with 

 fascines ; and the ground was drained at spots where infiltrations" of water 

 were producing subterranean disintegration. 



" These works, carried on in combination with each other, have proved 

 completely successful. The torrent is now [1870] extinguished. For two 

 years the greatest storms of rain have deluged the basin, but have had no 

 other effect than to occasion a moderate increase of the flow. " This has 

 carried off no material, nor has the stream overflowed its banks. All 

 danger to the plain has disappeared. The Syndicate has dissolved itself. 



2h 



