DRY ZONE AFFORESTATION, IO9 



dant, these bunds may be made as pitching, but they should be so 

 built that the weight of water or earth at their back would close their 

 joints and make them stronger. 



It is imperative that the position of these bunds be properly 

 selected and their foundation embedded into the sub-rock or resting 

 against a cross rock, if existing, so that the base will not give away. 

 As to the sides, they should be anchored against natural rocks, and 

 here, also, the necessity of providing side escapes should not be over- 

 looked (see the arrow on the diagram on p. 105), as they will act 

 as safety valves, taking the excess of water (if necessary) away through 

 a rocky course and not endangering or undermining the newly-con- 

 structed protective bund. Though conditions differ according to 

 position &c, yet the principles remain the same. 



In some places the inrush of water may not be controllable before 

 it reaches almost the foot of the ridge. Here, I would say, after 

 making provision to catch the product of the erosion, a masonry 

 fall may lead the surplus water to the drain below, thus checking 

 as far as possible the disintegration that takes place year by year 

 in some of the low-lying ravines of the western slopes. Practically 

 the first step in this matter would be, not to attempt the treatment 

 of the ravines proper, but the uplands where the ravine actually begins. 

 This is the common practice resorted to by hillmen. Subsequently 

 the ravine cross bunds could be dealt with where necessary. 



In the process of time, these catching areas will gradually get 

 rilled up, creating more or less level tablelands which will accom- 

 modate a sturdy deep-rooting vegetation, which will play an 

 important part in binding together the silt deposited by the erosion 

 of the hillsides above. Very little will eventually be gained by raising 

 the level of these cross bunds, unless it is for further check, aiming at 

 retaining the rainfall, but there is a limit beyond which one may not 

 with safety go. Each tableland will by its natural formation absorb 

 the great percentage of the rainfall it will receive, and subsequently 

 induce percolation into the hillsides. 



A great deal could be written on the subject, but it is hoped that the 

 day will not be distant when the above can be practically demonstrated. 



Nature s Revival. — The actual revival of its original flora is a striking 

 example of Nature's power of recuperation. This, of course, only refers 

 to certain portions of the area which are somewhat distant from the 

 vicinity of the old city, where cattle grazing and the destruction of 

 the scrub vegetation for fuel purposes has not been so systematically 

 carried out. 



The two photographs illustrating Nature's revival (figs. 12, 13) 

 should convey an object-lesson of the conditions under which plant life 

 makes way in adverse circumstances. In most cases the armed 

 species must have grown first, and subequently, in their midst under the 

 influence of their protection and shelter, other species, which are usually 

 attacked in their young state by such pests as porcupines and hares, 

 have found a safe and congenial place ; in other parts, between fissures 



