The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-05-26
THE PACIFIC
SATURDAY. Ma Y %
Forest Destruction.

Forest Destruction
There is = passage in MI. Schuyler RS recepnv
published account O. his travels IT. Turkistsn.
which, although relating to a very re mote locality
is Of near aud immediate interest TO ourselves II
is the following -" he golden bott ON of the UraI
was once the main source Of wealth 70 the Cossaeks .
but otciay to the Trp1 and careless externfna,ion
Of the forests above erenburg, the rireT is dviag
Up, and filing will shoals, and the fish seem
seeking some other loctity." The phrase ' golden"
sources Of wealth which the Ural supplied 10 The
population On Its bsiks By means Of the eaviare.
~isinglass, sailed Surgeons, and 6sGuga, which they
obtained from the roduce Of the stream and
some idea Of the magnitude Of the calamity which
thus threatened this Prtion Of the Russian domin-
ions may be formed rom this fact that this river
is $50 miles in length and that the basin it flows
through has an area o $500 square miles, which
is very nearly equal o that Of the colony Of Vic
toris. Whenever the Ural dries up-and il ia
simply q question Of ime-the whole Of its water
shed will become q deert, just IS other vast tracts
of country have don, in various parts Of Asia,
owing TO the same caues.
Now. as our correspondents, Mr.. John Campbell
and Forester hre shown, the work of forest
destruction is preceding with appalling rapidity
in this colony. In fheen years, we are told, l60,-
900 acres of forest lad have been denuded of their
timber, representing, it is estimated, the telling
of 12O,OO0 900 treesof large growth, irrespective
of the underwood. Cur railways and our telegraph
lines will continue ( consume great quantities of
mature timber for Il time to come while the
demands for fencing mining, building, and fuel
will go on increasing rom year to year. Not only
are we living on o~uIcapital in this respect, but
we are preparing for be pxuperisaton OF nnstsrity.
if not for the tranormation Of what are now
fertile districts into terile and uninhabitable re-
gions. Assertions lie these are not based on
speculations or conctures. They rest upon the
foundations of histy and experience, and are
sustained by the plainsachings of science.
The forest especiay in elevated situations, is
0atura,a oonduit for Ip Transmission 0f rain and
vapour to the subtermean reservoirs of permanent
or intermittent spriys. Devastate this and you
destroy the husbandnn's best friend, as we'll as
the most beneficial apcy which exists for equals
ing the temperature f a country, for the proven
ton of hailstorms ad elemental commissions. and
for modifying cline. We say nothing here of
the part which the rec plays in the publication
of the atmosphere blythe absorption of its carbonic
acid, and by its ~exiration of oxygen. We wish
to call attention chhy to the perls with which
We are threatened oy the disappearance Of our
rivers, which will ievItably result from the demo-
liton of our foresJ. Some time ago we pointed
out that in Russi, the river Volga, the main
artery of the intersl commerce of the nation,
is continuously sinking in volume that Lake
Aral is contracting in area, and diminishing In
depth (; and that tie surface of the Caspian Sea
is also steadily filling. The highest authorities
in Europe concur il att,ibuting all these phenomena
to the destruction of the forests which formerly
clothed the districs N which the Volga and the
afiuents of the Anl and the Caspian take their
rise. Hence tue an1ul loss Dy evaporation which
is sustained by those NO seas is no longer compen-
stated for by the wates poured into them by their
tributaries and the ay may come when the site
Of both will be dry hsins covered with a saline
crust.
And these d~isastrou, changes are far more rapid
than is generally snPpsed. 1t is a mistake to
imagine that it is only our posterity that will feel
the evil consequences { our reeklessness and i'm
providence for these oay be experienced within
the lifetime of a snle generation. Professor
Marsh tells US that tie hills in the Atlantic
States formerly abound in springs and brooks ;
but in many parts ofthese States. which were
cleared a generation ohwo ago. the hill pastures
now suffer severely finn drought, and in dry
seasons furnish to cate neither grass nor water
And if this be so in tho temperate ATTITUDES. what
can we expect in the tropical regions? But. as
showing what may accomplished by replanting, /!
or by permitting natre to resume her forest garb, /
he mentions the follSing circumstances as having
fallen under his on observation &c remember
one case where a nall mountain stream, which
disappeared soon Ser the clearing of the ground
where it rose, was ecovered about twenty years
ago by simply alhwing the bushes and young
trees to grow up on, rocky knoll, not more than
halfan-acre in extat, Immediately above the
spring. The ground was hardly shaded before
the water re-appeare, and it has ever since con-
tinued to flow withoutnterruption."
DIR. j. Croumbie Brown, formerly Government
Botanist at the Cape. ellis us that in the COMPARE
lively short time DUNG which that colony has
been settled the destruction of forests has been at
says sc Throughout extensive districts we meet
with want of fuel, mltitudes being driven to the
use of mist in cooking food, and multitudes more
numerous being unabl to obtain even this ; winds
powerful. if not terrif, sweep over the land. with
hail and tempest droughts, long continued
d~roughts, alternate win deluges Of rain and thun-
derstoms heat by d9 in some districts is sue
ceeded, not unfrequenty by frosty nights l~ocusts,
ETC., remind one of whr is written of Judes and
then, when it is least eNected. the sky unclouded,
the sun or the moon dining in its brightness
down comes a river, Carrying all before it."
There is but one safeguard against evils like these.
and that is forest conservation and more espee-
tally in the gathering grounds of all our rivers.
For every tree cut down, there should be one
planted, always remepering the sage words of
the old Scotch laird to his son, "It'l be aye
growing Jock, while y, are sleeping 1t is the
most criminal of selfsi,ess-the most suicidal of
tolly-to go on denudng the country as we are
doing and we should be wanting in our duty to
the community if we RETAINED from adding our
paotest to that OF ouIcorrespondents' against a
line of conduct which we do not hesitate to de-
nounce as simply infamus, and unworthy Of a race
of civilised beings-TT Queens!ander.