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cessary that the forests be massed together, on a large scale, 
to be of any service, but the forests which should be preserv- 
ed are those particular forests of Moka, Plaines YVilhems, 
Vacoas and Savanne, and no others will answer the same pur- 
pose. It would be useless to establish forests about the low- 
er parts of the rivers and at the same time leave the sources 
naked and exposed. The forests must be regarded as reser- 
voirs, and as by far the greater part of the rain falls on the 
high lands, the forest intended to preserve it must be placed 
there, and not on the low ground ; for by the time the water 
reaches the low ground it will have been collected into large 
streams, having velocity sufficient to rush onwards to the sea, 
no matter whether it has to pass through forests or not. A 
reservoir placed near the mouth of a river would merely supply 
a small quantity of fresh water to the sea, but if placed around 
and about the source, it would give a large and regular supply 
to the whole line of country through which the river might 
flow. Nothing short of a positive prohibition of all future 
clearing on the high table lands before mentioned, will meet 
the views of those who trust to forests, for the maintenance 
of the water supply, but if these lands are to be protected by 
law, they must be purchased from the proprietors, and doom- 
ed to be forever unprofitable. Considering the extent and the 
value of the land, such a measure would seem both impolitic 
and impracticable. If we wish the Island to advance in ma- 
terial prosperity, we must adopt an opposite policy, and 
find means to throw open to cultivation as much land as pos- 
sible. 
As facilities and inducements for extending cultivation in- 
crease, so will the impracticability of maintaining so much 
forest become more evident. 
A simple calculation will show that each individual of the 
population must use something like one cord of brush wood 
or other fire wood in the course of a year ; in all about 240,000 
cords; taking the produce of one acre of land at 75 cords, the 
consumption will be equivalent to the produce of 3,200 acres 
every year. Now it is probable that more than this quantity 
of fuel is consumed at the various Sugar Manufactories, Di- 
stilleries, Lime Kilns etc., and probably as much more is 
