136 



Mr. Meldrum, Director of the Mauritius Observatory, read a paper 

 before the Scottish Meteorological Society in July, 1866. In this he 

 stated that for some years before there had been severe droughts in 

 the island, and recently there had been severe outbreaks of fever, which 

 had carried off one-tenth of the population. A careful analysis of 

 Meterological observations that had been made showed that from 1861 

 to 1866 there had been a great diminution in the rainfall. So far as 

 could be discovered the rainfall was less than during any similar 

 period since the island was discovered. This could only be explained 

 by the cutting down of large forests in the interior, no less than 70,000 

 acres having been denuded of trees during the ten years from 1852 

 to 1862. Mr. Meldrum concluded by saying that the calamities which 

 had so seriously affected the people of the Mauritius seemed to be self- 

 inflicted ; and that the proper remedy was to restore the forests of 

 which the once salubrious and beautiful island had been deprived. 

 And in a communication published in the Journal of the English 

 Meteorological Society for that year there is given additional infor- 

 mation on the subject. In this he states : " That the rainfall in that 

 island during the five years 1862-66 was considerably less than during 

 any previous five years of the whole period since 1853 ;" — " that 

 during the first five years, from 1853-57, the relative humidity of the 

 air was 72.1, whilst during the last five years, 1862-66 it was only 

 68.2 ;" — " that the vapour pressure, which in the earlier of these quin- 

 quennials was . 657, had fallen during the latter given quinquennial 

 to .638." 



Notwithstanding these facts, he says : — " In no former year of the 

 period of fourteen years did such floods occur as in 1861, and 1866, 

 or such severe droughts as in 1865 and 1866," and to account for 

 these facts he says : — " That the decrease of rainfall humidity, and 

 vapour pressure, and the occurrence of floods and droughts, may in 

 some measure be due to the cutting down of the forests, which com- 

 menced on an extensive scale about 1852, was vigorously carried on 

 till 1862, and is being still prosecuted, though to a small extent." 



One chief cause of the cutting down of the forests in Mauritius, 

 Mr. Meldrum states thus : — " Proprietors of forests in high and re- 

 mote parts of the island, where the climate was as yet too damp and 

 rainy for sugar-cane, engaged in the work because they believed that 

 their land would thereby become more fit for such crops ; for it was 

 very well known that the climate became drier in proportion as the 

 forests were cut down. Upon the whole, I think, at least 70,000 acres, 

 or about one-sixth of the entire area of the island, have been denuded 

 of forests since 1852, and that, too, on the central and elevated parts 

 of the island, at or near tho sources of the rivers." 



He points out how, by the lowering of lakes, and the complete 

 desiccation of others, malaria resulted, and a deadly epidemic. And 

 the remedy which he suggests is, " to restore, as far as practicable cer- 

 tain portions of the forests of which this once salubrious and beautiful 

 island has been deprived." 



In 1871, a report was issued by Dr. H. Rogers, of Mauritius, " on 

 the effects of the cutting down of forests on the climate and health of 

 Mauritius." This Report I have not seen ; but in a lecture on Forest 

 Culture in its relation to industrial pursuits, delivered in Melbourne 



