INTRODUCTION. 13 



out of many which might have been adduced, to show 

 how the surface of the earth is undergoing great 

 modification and alteration, through the disturbing 

 influences of civilisation and colonisation, some of 

 these, such as the destruction of forests, having 

 produced disastrous consequences on the climate. 



During 1877, a paragraph went the round of the 

 papers respecting a singular tree, which, although it did 

 not profess to destroy miasma, was no less beneficial, 

 inasmuch as it provided moisture in dry places, and 

 the "Rain-tree,'' it was anticipated, would convert all 

 deserts into paradise. As there is "nothing new under 

 the sun " the same story, or nearly so, has been found 

 on record more than a century previously, to the 

 following effect : " Near the mountains of Vera Paz 

 (Guatemala) we came out on a large plain, where were 

 numbers of fine deer, and in the middle stood a tree 

 of unusual size, spreading its branches over a vast 

 compass of ground. We had perceived, at some 

 distance off, the ground about it to be wet, at which 

 we began to be somewhat surprised, as well knowing 

 there had been no rain fallen for near six months 

 past. At last, to our great amazement, we saw water 

 dropping, or, as it were, distilling fast from the end 

 of every leaf." 1 The new story, on the authority of 



1 "Journey Overland from the Gulf of Honduras," by John 

 Cockburn, London (1735), pp. 40-42. 



