FORESTS IN THEIR RELATION TO RAINFALL. 235 



Again, the Cataract River rises on Mount Keira in 

 densely timbered country, — the Coast Range, where there 

 is a rainfall of say 60 inches, yet this is an intermittent 

 stream. On the other hand, the Oordeaux River, which 

 rises at the back of Mount Kembla, further south, is more 

 sparsely timbered and has been cleared up to nearly the 

 head of the river, yet it never ceases to flow. It is also in 

 country with less average rainfall than the preceding. 



Mr. Harris, the Ranger of the Catchment Area, informs 

 me that there are two tributaries running into the Oordeaux 

 River on its left bank, viz., Sandy Oreek and Wattle Oreek. 

 The former perhaps drains a larger area than the latter. 

 Sandy Oreek is well timbered; Wattle Oreek is sparsely 

 timbered. During the present drought Sandy Oreek has 

 ceased to flow, while Wattle Oreek is still running. He is 

 emphatic in attributing this increased flow to the denuda- 

 tion of the timber, stating that the trees transpire or absorb 

 the water which is dissipated into the atmosphere. 



" I have found that a spring in the parish of Dulladerry, about 

 two miles from Meranburn railway station, went dry during the 

 drought of 1884, but has given no indication of failure during the 

 recent dry weather. Since 1884 the country from whence it 

 derives its water has been ringbarked. Observant, practical men 

 asserted several years since that the spring would not go dry, as the 

 basin of the creek in which the creek is situated is ringbarked. 

 Their prediction has proved true." 1 



In this case it may have been that the absorption and 

 transpiration of the water by the trees is greater than by 

 the grass which increased in the ringbarked country. It 

 seems like an argument in favour of cutting down forest 

 trees to improve the moisture conditions of the country. 

 Or it may have been that the rain ran off this particular 

 area of country as a forest, or scattered forest, more rapidly 



1 Mr. James Anderson in Sydney Morning Herald, 10th January, 1889. 



