280 DEVASTATIONS AND RESTOEATIONS. 



francs 5 cents., of which 16,523 francs had been met by the Treasury, 3,600 

 by the department, and 1,922 by the sections of the communes and pro- 

 prietors of the lands. 



Sect. VII. — Department of Lozlre. 



The p^rimetre of Ponteils, though situated on Mount Lozfere, is not 

 situated in the department of Lozere, but in the department of Gard. 



In Lozfere, operations are being carried on in twelve or more p6rimfetres, 

 in seven of which — Saint-Bauzille, Lahu^jols, Badaroux, Balsi6ges, Mende, 

 Saint-Etienne-de-Valdonnez, and Chanac — there were comprised 5250 

 hectares. 



Keference has been made in a preceding Part to what had been accom- 

 plished in the department of Lozere through the zealous co-operation of 

 the prefect, 



Speaking of the ravages committed in this department by torrents, and 

 devastations occasioned by inundations, that honoured magistrate, at a 

 meeting of the district Societe d'Agrieultiire, held after the inundations of 

 1866, gave the following graphic account of the disastrous consequences 

 which had come upon the department through the reckless destruction of 

 forests. Speaking of these he said : — 



" No, no, it is not God who has occasioned the evil which has come upon 

 us, but men have done it in their improvidence, in their great desire to 

 make the present minister to their enjoyment, without thinking of their 

 children, without thinking of the future ! When three years ago, on my 

 arrival in La Lozfere, the Municipal Council of Mende did me the honour to 

 wait upon me ; the first sentiment I expressed to them was that of my 

 astonishment — my painful surprise — at not seeing more wood on the 

 mountains, and on the steep declivities. And this was also the subject of 

 my first address to this Agricultural Society. 



"I brought before you the case of a land covered with sand — the 

 poorest, the most miserable, the most insalubrious in France — the Landes ; 

 and I added that, thanks to reboisement, this department is to-day one of the 

 richest, and the most salubrious in the empire. And, with a saddened 

 feeling, I said to you, ' Take care ; the rains and the snows are carrying ofi 

 every day the lands of your mountains, strewing your valleys with the 

 debris of rocks, raising up the beds of your rivers, and bringing about fear- 

 fid and disastrous inundations. These lands, thus carried away, are lost 

 f jrever, they go to the sea which engulfs them and never renders back what 

 she engulfs.' Three years have not yet run their course, and see how this 

 prophecy has been fulfilled ! And do not persuade yourself that this is an 

 accidental occurrence, which could neither be foreseen nor averted. How 

 many warnings have you not received 1 These inundations are to a certain 

 extent periodical; 1846, 1856, 1866, are three fatal years not likely soon 

 to be forgotten ! And note what a fearful progression may be seen in these 

 disasters ! In 1846 the Lot overflowed its banks and rose to a great height; 

 but it did so slowly ; it covered the valleys with mud and sand, it carried 

 away the gathered crops, but it carried not away the land. The same was 

 done in 1856; with this diflerence, that the rise of the river was less power- 

 ful. In 1866 the Lot, the Tarn, the afQuents of the AUier and of the 

 Ardfeohe, became furious torrents ; within a few minutes they overflowed 

 their banks, bearing down 'bridges, trees, mills, destroying houses, ploughing 



