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or recommended, for preventing the cutting of timber, for the 
sole purpose of ensuring a sufficient supply of rain ; but 
though these measures have been ineffectual, and an immense 
amount of clearing has been done within the last 60 or 70 
years, there is not the slightest ground for supposing that any 
change has taken place in the quantity of rain which falls in 
the course of a year. 
So far back as the year 1771? it was found necessary to un- 
dertake the construction of the Bois Rouge Canal, a work of 
great magnitude, for the purpose of conveying water from the 
upper part of the Riviere du Rempart to the flat and North- 
ern parts of the Island ; and this great expense was incurred 
to supply the wants of a population probably less than one 
tenth of what it is at the present time. 
In the year 1810, the British troops suffered great hard- 
ships on account of the want of water, whilst penetrating the 
thick forests which then extended nearly the whole distance 
from Grand Bay to Port Louis ; and the expressions of Ge- 
neral Abercrombie’s Despatch imply that the deprivation of 
water was not a temporary or accidental occurrence, but that 
that part of the Island suffered from a permanent scantiness 
of supply. The formation of the ground moreover, proves 
that no streams, besides those now in existence, have ever 
traversed that part of the country. 
In comparing the quantity of water now in the rivers with 
what is stated or supposed of their condition at some distant 
period, allowance must be made for the enormous consump- 
tion of the present day caused by the great increase which 
has taken place in the population of the Island, and in the 
extent of cultivation. We must expect to find less water in 
the rivers when we consider the number of extensive planta- 
tions crowded along their banks, and remember the great num- 
ber of men and animals to be supplied, and the large quanti- 
ties of water made use of in carrying on the improved processes 
of manufacture and cultivation. 
The simple recollections, or general impressions of persons, 
on the subject of the effect s of clearing, upon the water supply, arc 
very likely to mislead. For instance, the assertion that a cer- 
tain stream had never before been dry, at that particular sea- 
