ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. IT 



CHAPTER V. 



THE DUTIES OF TOURISTS, HUNTERS, ANGLERS, &C., AS REGARDS 

 THE PRESERVATION OF FORESTS. 



I said, just now, that the settlers themselves are the 

 chief contributors to the forest-fires. Unfortunately, they 

 have active assistants in -hunters, a,nglers, tourists, 

 and others. These stroll through the bush ; they light a 

 fire, to dry their clothes, to cook with, or for some other 

 reason, and when they haA-^e done with it, it may go out 

 or not as it likes But a coal remains. The fire has been 

 made on a bed of leaves and moss, and without the 

 slightest precaution. Up gets the wind, all is in ablaze ! 

 And the author of the destruction goes on his way in 

 happy ignorance. How true is all this ! And yet, nothing 

 couid have been easier than to have lighted the fire on 

 a site carefully cleared from inflammable matters, to 

 have kept it at a distance from the trunks of trees, and, 

 after watching it carefully while burning, to have put 

 it put completely before leaving. Simple precautions, 

 these ; they suggest themselves, and yet how few ob- 

 serve them ! The settler who burns his brush, &c., is 

 excusable up to a certain point. Burn he must, and his 

 fire is not always manageable. But what excuse can be 

 made for the careless hunter who ruins a whole town- 

 ship because he will not take the trouble to extinguish 

 a fire which he himself has lighted, and which is under 

 his own control. No excuse for him : and if the settler 

 deserves punishment, how much more he ! Yes, it is he 

 who should sufier, and severely too. It is he whom the 

 forest-police should watch, for his negligence is the 

 worst of all. 



Hunters and other frequenters of the bush, be wise. 



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