410 



Notes on the Injiuence 



[No. 36, 



ing with the brushwood from the sides of the mountains, the 

 waters falling in rain are no longer impeded in their course ; and 

 instead of slowly augmenting the level of the rivers by progres- 

 sive filtration, they furrow during heavy showers the sides of 

 the hills, bear down the loosened soil, and form those sudden in- 

 undations that devastate the country. Hence it results that the 

 destruction of forests, the want of permanent springs, and the 

 existence of torrents, are three phenomena closely connected 

 together.* 



In the collectorate comprizing the South Conkan, under Bombay, 

 since this tract has been denuded of forest as it now has, from the 

 pressure of population, to a great extent been, all the inhabitants 

 concur in asserting that the springs have left the uplands, that 

 the climate has become gi'eatly drier, the seasons more uncertain 

 and the land less fertile. I believe that this can be confirmed by 

 the testimony of the late Collector Mr. Elphinstone, but indeed it 

 is most apparent to a person travelling along that line of country, 

 as I have just now been doing, mainly with the intention of re- 

 marking changes which have taken place in the interval of fifteen 

 years, which period of time has elapsed since I visited that line of 

 country before; I have also understood that effects of a similar 

 kind have been experienced at the Neilgherry Hills. A change of 

 climate similar to that, now, under contemplation is by no means 

 limited in extent to the mere district in which the clearing has 

 taken place, but its influence extends far inland. Take for exam- 

 ple all the southern and western portion of the Dharwar Zillah. 

 This fertile country abounds in moisture in so much that it has 

 been, (though rather inaptly I think) compared to the valley of the 

 Mississippi: at all events American upland cotton grows there 

 which it will hardly do in other parts of the Bombay Presidency. 

 I think it is not too much to say that much of this moisture de= 

 pends on the wooded country forming its western border, and that 

 with the complete removal of this the climate would greatly change. 

 My own opinion is that in the Bombay Presidency some cause of 

 this kind has had a great share in producing that irregularity of 

 the rainy season which has of late years been so much complained 



* Personal I^ftrratire, rol, ir., p, 143, 



