POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF THE ENTERPRISE, 325 



uncertain, and very problematical — and not unreasonably so, for the 

 attempts to rear them made previously had all proved abortive. 



" In running over the p6rimtoes in course of restoration, it may be seen 

 how much the soil has been changed for the better, and consolidated ; oiie 

 may, without being accused of entertaining Utopian dreams, foresee that soon 

 some portions may be brought under cultivation, and brought by attention 

 and irrigation into the condition of natural meadows. 



" In consequence of the consolidation of the soil, and of vegetation, the 

 torrential characters so well described by M. Surell have disappeared. The 

 waters, even in time of rain, are less terrible, and are better fitted for use in 

 irrigation. This has been testified by all the proprietors who make use of 

 the waters of torrents in the irrigation of their lands. 



" There are no longer sudden and violent floods j and the waters on 

 reaching the cones of dejection are no longer charged with solid materials, 

 and they naturally dig out for themselves a passage through these deposits. 

 In taking up and carrying further the materials brought there, they un- 

 cover stones of great size, and these form a fixed and solid bed. The 

 shiftings of the bed of the current are less formidable, and less dangerous ; 

 and at little expense the proprietors of lands on the banks can protect their 

 property from injurious efifects of these. 



" But it is befitting that I should give cases and figures. I shall, there- 

 fore, cite definite facts which relate to our roads, or to our undertakings. 



" At Sainte-Marthe [as has been stated by others] there was discussed, in 

 1861-1862, a proposed erection of a dike on the cone of dejection on the 

 left bank of the torrent. This dike, estimated to cost about 40,000 francs, 

 had as its design to protect the imperial road No. 94 and the properties on 

 the river bank against invasion by the torrent. These works would have 

 been in reality but a temporary remedy ; the dike would have been, after 

 some years, buried under the dejections of the torrent. To-day, the torrent 

 of Sainte-Marthe is completely extinguished ; nothing now comes down 

 from the mountain. The proprietors and the engineers no longer think about 

 dikes ; simple fencing walls suffice to protect the lands on the river lank, 



" The torrent of Pals, in the commune of Rizoul, traversed the depart- 

 mental road No. 4, and the imperial road No. 94. In 1865, I brought 

 under discussion a project of works to enclose this torrent with dikes, to fix 

 the bed of it thus, and to conduct it in a straight line to Guil, thus avoiding 

 the imperial road No. 94 — it would have cost at least 25,000 francs. Since 

 that time the basin of reception has been restored and consolidated, the 

 torrent is extinct, the change of bed has become unnecessary, it is only 

 requisite now to construct on road No. 94 an aqueduct for the passage of 

 the waters of the Pals ; a work costing 1000 francs has sufficed here when 

 there was being anticipated an expense of more than 25,000 francs. 



" The torrent of Rioubourdoux, near Savines, was one of excessive 

 violence ; it carried away a great deal of material, and the establishment 

 of a bridge for the passage of the imperial road No. 94 was considered as a 

 difficult and dubious undertaking ; the passage of the cone of Rioubourdoux 

 was also an uncovered one, interrupted at every rain and every storm. 

 The Forest Administration has mis en defends the basin of reception, and 

 has commenced works of consolidation. The regime of the torrent has 

 been modified ; it has been possible, without very great expense, to fix 

 definitively the bed upon the cone, and to construct a bridge. The waters 

 no longer bring down material from the mountain, 



