cordingly there is a greater probability of the forests which 
still remain being made to disappear. 
Instead, therefore, of struggling to prevent a result which 
appears to be, for so many reasons, inevitable, our wisest 
course is to consider beforehand, now whilst there is time, the 
measures which must be adopted to ward off the difficulty. 
These measures evidently consist in the formation of arti- 
ficial lakes, or reservoirs, which may serve the purpose of for- 
ests, and preserve for use during the dry season the rain which 
falls during the wet months. 
By taking advantage of the form of the ground, and throw- 
ing one or more dams across the opening of a valley, the sur- 
face drainage of a large extent of country may be easily col- 
lected and retained. 
The irregular features of most parts of this Island offer 
many suitable sites for the construction of such reservoirs, 
which with proper canals for the distribution of the water, 
would ensure a constant and sufficient supply. 
On large estates, planters would in very many cases find it 
to their advantage to form reservoirs on their own account ; 
in other cases, where the wants of a large district have to be 
supplied, they might be formed by the Government or by 
Companies, or by the cooperation of the Government with 
the parties interested — as is now done in the case of Branch 
Roads. 
There are no great practical difficulties to be overcome ; all 
that is requisite is the exercise of judgment in fixing the po- 
sition of the dam ; and care during its construction to render 
it impermeable to water. In introducing this system of water 
supply on a large scale, it would be desirable to give careful 
consideration to method by which the shares of water should 
be measured out and distributed, a point of some difficulty 
and importance, which is but imperfectly attained at present. 
In addition to the argument in favor of the reservoir sys- 
tem founded upon the probability of the gradual disappear- 
ance of our forests, there is another argument quite as for- 
cible, which leads directly to the same conclusion. 
It has been already observed that on account of the increase 
