INUNDATIONS IN FRANCE. 347 



fall in June, as this year they did, they are somewhat tepid, and, falling 

 upon the snow, melt it rapidly, and the watety produce is added to the 

 rainfall; thus two sources of flood are combined, and disastrous conse- 

 quences not unfrequently follow. And thus, as has been stated, was the 

 late flood produced. Persistent rains from the north-west fell upon the 

 Cevennes and the northern slope of the Pyrenees. This was preceded there 

 in some oases by a heavy fall of snow ; and there was over all the higher- 

 lying lands the snow which had fallen in the course of the winter. This 

 snow was dissolved ; all the tributaries of the Garonne were flooded simul- 

 taneously ; and we see the result. 



In such a case time is everything. It may make all the difference be- 

 tween the loss of life and property and perfect safety to both, if a body of 

 water such as was here precipitated from the mountains shall rush past a 

 given point in four days or take fourteen for its flow — flowing in flood, but 

 never rising above the height of the containing banks. And it may make 

 a very great difference, though not so great, if a flood and inundation come 

 suddenly in the night, without notice or warning, and if it come after twelve 

 or twenty four hours' notice of its coming. 



Thus it is with floods in the Seine and in the Loire. Warning is given 

 by telegraph all along the course of these rivers that a flood is on its way, 

 and the inhabitants on their banks are prepared when it comes. 



But this could not be done in the case of the late inundations. There 

 is an observatory at Pic-du-Midi, a spur of the Pyrenees, and it seems that 

 General de Nansouty, who commands there, would have been able to give 

 timely warning of the coming inundation had the observatory been in tele- 

 graphic communication with the threatened towns and villages, — at all events 

 along the course of the Adour. He did warn the people in the neighbour- 

 ing valley of Campan what was to be expected from a heavy fall of snow in 

 the mountains, which snow had suddenly commenced to melt under the 

 influence of.the rain and westerly wind; and on the first appearance of danger, 

 on the night of the 22nd June, M. Beylac descended the mountain during 

 the most fearful weather to spread the alarm ; but the floods in all the 

 tributaries of the Garonne were so sudden that to give warning was impos- 

 sible. Had the bassins de reception of all these been wooded it would have 

 been otherwise, but they were to a great extent devoid of vegetation. 



Very different had been the case had warning been given along the 

 course of the Garonne of the coming flood from one to twelve or twenty- 

 four hours before it reached the different towns and villages destroyed ; and 

 very different had been the case had the waters which swept along in a 

 torrential wave taken fourteen days to flow past any and every point on its 

 course ! It may be, that never would it have risen so high as to imperil a 

 single house, and that in consequence of the timely warning given not one 

 life would have been lost ! It is said by a writer I have quoted, — " If this 

 observatory (that on the Pio-du-Midi), now isolated on the peak, were 

 bound to the plain by telegraph, the General might transmit to the oflScials 

 of the Ponts et Chaussees previsions of the last importance. In the same 

 manner a station should be made on the Corbi6res. As soon as the quan- 

 tity of rain falling on these cliffs became dangerous the authorities would 

 be warned." Yes ; but this, if combined with a complete reboisement and 

 gazonnement of the mountains, would give the longer time to prepare for 

 what was coming. And it may be asked, Why has this not been done 1 

 An answer is forthcoming, and that not the answer which might be ex- 



