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NATURE NOTES 
convinced me that, had not the people of that country taken in 
hand seriously, as they did at the commencement of the 18th 
century, the maintenance and re-growing of their forests, the 
land would long ere this have become worse than Spain (which 
has the sea round it for the most part to moderate, to some 
extent, the drought), the climate would have greatly suffered, the 
population would have diminished and deteriorated, and no 
conquering armies would have crossed the Rhine in 1870. 
Greece next claims our attention, where Plato, four centuries 
before the Christian era, lamented the loss of the shady forests 
of earlier times. This country, once so rich in trees, had almost 
entirely lost them before the Roman epoch. The upper part of 
the Balkan peninsula has fortunately escaped some of the evils 
of civilisation, and Servia and Bosnia, for instance, have 
beautiful forests. But the isles of Greece have suffered sadly : 
Crete, left with a few olive trees, has now lost nearly all those 
during the recent troubles. The Cyclades were long ago cleared 
of trees, and the same work has gone on in the Ionian Islands. 
As to Cyprus, when Mr. Chamberlain received a deputation at 
the Colonial Office at the beginning of last year, Sir George 
Birdwood, after referring to the experience he had had in India, 
said that it was imperative in this island, as it had been found 
in India, to re-afforest the country, which would improve its 
climate and give natural irrigation. 
Russia I have spoken of in my former paper. She is very 
reckless about forests. Asia Minor has still fine forests in the 
northern mountains, but the central plateau is almost destitute 
of wood, and so of w-ater. Syria presents a sad spectacle : the 
Biblical history tells us of the early fertility of this land ; but in 
these days the cedars of Lebanon are represented by a few- 
solitary specimens, and the general aspect of the country is one 
of poverty and barrenness. Especially is this so around Jeru- 
salem, as has been remarked by M. Renan, who resided for 
some time in Palestine to gather material for his “ Vie de Jesus,” 
and other works. Look at the map, it is covered with dotted 
lines — these are dry water courses traced through barren desert 
land, which were once perennial streams running through woods 
and fertile fields. The Bible names several forests whose sites 
have been identified, and now present to the traveller’s eye 
nought but rocks and sand. 
Persia has lost her forests, excepting a few in the north, and 
who can doubt that the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris, with 
its huge cities of ancient days, was then highly fertile with 
abundance of trees ? They have gone, and with them has dis- 
appeared the Babylonian power. The cities are buried by the 
shifting sand of a great desert created by man’s folly. 
The same story is repeated in Arabia, which Mahomet 
wished to see replanted, saying the country should be made a 
garden of trees ; and in Egypt we have visible evidence at this 
day from petrified remains, that the hill slopes on each side of 
