Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-06-12

LiTe In the waste Places of the world
The earliest Arctic explorers found in the
Spitzbergen archipelago whore, it is be-
| lieved, no human being had ever lived-herds
Of reindeer upturning the snow with their
hoofs and noses TO get at the lchens on which
they feed. Many reindeer live ~ far north
as Littleton Island, and several scores of
| them were killed by the Hayes and Polaris ex-
| peditons. Musk oxen, or their traces, have
been found along the shores OF the great frozen
sea as far north as explorers have attained
Lockwood, far north Of the supposed limits
Of animal life found traces Of this wonderful
quadruped, which grows fat on the tender
shoots Of the Arctic willow, and ploughs up
the snow for moss and lichens.
OF all parts Of the earth the Antarctic re-
gions alone are comparatively destitute Of life.
Few species Of living things in the vegetable
or animal kingdom can endure the rigor Of
the South Polar region. No terrestrial quad
ruped inhabts the land within the Antarctic
Circle, and whales and seals are the only nam
mails that enter its area Summer in the Arctic
regions, with its abundant life on land and in
the air and sea, presents an animated and a
cheerful scene compared with the utter desola-
tion that roigns perpetually in Antarctic wa
ters.
The Russian explorer Prejevalsky said after
his re cent journey in northern Thibet that AN
enormous amount of animal life WAS support
ed by the scanty herbage growing on these
bleak half sterile plains that form the highest
plateau in the world some 49, 900 feet above
the sea. He said the wild yaks there must
number millions, and that full grown yak
weighs from 600 to 800 pounds. Natures
chemistry evolves these great masses Of flesh
from the poor herbage of region 80 lofty that
its lakes are frozen over until nearly June,
lhOnOb fhay ira ptilaa la anunt0r
than we are.
Explorers tell us that not only does animal
life abound, but that man can live in some of
the most desolate parts of the globe. IL is a
mistake TO suppose that the Sahara desert is
a mere useless sandy waste. Much of it lacks
not 30 much cultvable land as industrious
hands to make the vast eXpanse Of withered
GASES blossom again. The Mussuman sect
known as the Senousians has for years been
digging wells, irrigating the land, and turn
ing many hundreds of barren acres into gar
dens. Twenty-four years ago it planted its
headquarters in the desert near the western
border Of Egypt, built reservoirs, began plan
tations, erected con vents, and now a popu-
lation Of {, 600 people live at Jsrabub, where
the soil has been restored to fertility by their
labors. There are large areas in the Sahara
that need only rain or irrigation TO cover them
with verdure. Through these regions pass
the caravan routes, along which the bO,OOO
camels engaged in the Saharan commerce
bear their burdens.
Mr. Anderson, the civil engineer who last
year completed sixteen years of explorations
In South Africa between the Orange and Zam-
besiS rivers, says that the rain that falls for
few weeks every year in the great region
known As the Kalahara desert covers ths black
ened verdureless plain with splendid veReta-
tion. Game is abundant, especially lions,
leOpards and ostriches, and he has counted in
this desert twenty two lions in q troop, and
has seen 200 ostriches in flock. Beasts and
birds find sustenance in this region where on
ly few Bushmen hunters live. Far north
east Of them, on the semi arid steppes of
Kordofan and Darfur, millions Of sheep and
camels exist on the scanty pasturage of that
desert region.