88 — 
a ce sujet au journal V Atheneum, par le Dr Beke, membre 
correspondant de la Societe : 
“ In a letter to a recent member of the Atheneum, Dr 
“ Beke speaks of tlie many changes for the better that have 
“ taken place during his own recollection. Five millions ol 
“ acres are now cultivated where formerly two and a halt 
<l were under culture. Trees, too, have been planted so exten- 
*•' sively that many parts of the country have theappearance 
“ of being well wooded. As a consequence oi this, Egypt is 
“ fast loosing its proverbial rainless character. At Alexan- 
“ dria, rain is now frequent enough to be a source ot annoy - 
“ ance ; and Cairo which used to have five or six “ showers ” 
“ only during the year, had last year twenty one days of 
“ rain, and Dr Beke himself speaks of four and twenty hour’s 
“ rain as heavy and continuous as any in London, in fact, a 
“ regular wet day. The Arabs, of course, attribute this to 
“ some supernatural change.” 
Cette observation largcmcnt basee sur des faits, dit le 
Secretaire, semblerait laisser croire que si les arbres n’attirent 
pas la pluie, ainsi qu’on n’ose pas le dire tout haut a Maurice, 
il n’en est pas moius constate, qu’en Egypte alors que les 5 
millions d’arpents etaient denudes, la pluie tombait tres rarc- 
ment, et qu’elle est abondante aujourd’hui dans ces memes 
localites depuis qu’elles sont couvertes d’arbres et de plantes 
cultivees. Et meme a ce point de devenir une nuisance, un 
inconvenient, une annoijance enfin. 
Le Secretaire communique cet autre extrait qui lui a 
paru assez interessant a reproduire, puisqu’il a rapport aux 
plantations de Caoutchouc entreprises dans l’lnde Anglaise 
sur une grande echelle. 
