The Land of the Poor People 



37 



Why does the rain, which once made this country fruit- 

 ful, now wash away the soil and make it barren? It is 

 because in those earher times much of the land was covered 

 with cool forests. The rain then fell more gently because 

 of the forests. More of it soaked into the ground and the 

 springs were larger. Now the rains are delayed by the 

 hot air of the tliirsty land until, when they finally do come, 

 the water falls in torrents. Such rains or cloudbursts, as 

 we often call them, carry away the unprotected soil faster 

 than Nature can renew it. 



The strangers in the land, under whose rule it became 

 poor, thought they knew better than Nature. They did 

 not look upon her as the great wise mother of them all. 

 Soon after these people came into possession of the land, 

 they found that in other places there was a demand for 







«"£. 



Bailey Willis 

 The shallow, rock-filled river along whose banks the trees have been destroyed. 



