The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-07-18
WASTE PLACES.
me Deso1ase Localities which Support
Animal Life.

me Desolase Localities which Support
Animal Life.
The Russian explorer Prejevalsky
said after his recent journey in northern
.Thibet that an enormous amount of
animal life was supported by the scanty
heritage growing on these bleak, half
sterile plains that form the highest
plateau in the world, some thirteen
thousand feet above the sea. He said
the wild yaks here must number mil
lions, and that full grown yak weighs
from sixteen hundred to eighteen hun
dred pounds. Natures chemistry
evolves these great masses of flesh
from the poor heritage OF 2 region 80
lofty that its lakes are frozen over until
nearly June, though they are six hum
bred miles nearer the equator 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. 1t is a mistake to sup
pose that the Sahara desert is merely
useless sandy waste. Much OF it lacks
not SO much cultivable land as indus
trious hands to make the vast expanse
of withered GASES blossom again. The
Mussulman sect known as the Senous-
ians has for years been digging wells,
irripating the land, and turning many
hundreds of barren acres into gardens.
Twenty-four years ago it planted its
Headquarters in the desert near the
western border of Egypt, built reser-
voirs, began plantations, erected con-
vents, and now population OF eight
thousand people live at Jarabub, where
the soil has been restored to fertility by
their labors. There are large areas
in the Sahara that need only rain or ir-
rioation to cover them with verdure.
Through these regions pass the caravan
routes, along which the fifty thousand
camels engaged in the Saharan com.
MERGE bear their burdens.
Mr.. Anderson, the civil engineer who
last year completed sixteen years Of
explorations in South Africa, between
the Orange and Zambesi Rivers, says
that the rain that falls for few weeks
every year in the great region known
as the Kalahara Desert covers the
blackencd, verdureless plain with splen
did vegetation. Game is abundan
there, especially lions, leopards, and os
triches, and he has counted in thi
desert twenty-five lions in troop, ant
has seen two hundred ostriches in on'
flock. Beasts and birds find sustenanc'
in this region where only a few bush
man hunters live. Far northeast o
them on the semi-arid steppes of Kor
dofan and Darfur millions of sheep ant
camels exist on the scanty pasturage o
that desert region.
The earliest Arctic explorers foun'
in the little Spitzbergen archipelago
where, it is believed, no human bein;
had ever lived-herds of reindeer up
turning the snow with their hoofs an
noses to get at the lichens on whic
they fed. Many reindeer live as ia
north as Littleton Island, and sewers
scores of them were killed by the Haye
and Polaris expeditions. Musk oxer
or their traces, have been found alon
the shores of the great frozen sea a
far north as explorers have ATTAINED
Lockwood, far north of the suppose
limits of animal life, found traces {
this wonderful quadruped, which grow
fat on the tender shoots of the Arct
willow, and ploughs up the snow fC
moss and lichens.
OF all parts of the earth the Antar
tic regions alone are comparativel
destitute of life. Few species of Twin
things in the vegetable or animal kinl
dom can endure the rigor of the Sout
Polar region. No terrestrial quat
ruped inhabits the land within the An
arctic circle, and whales and seals al
the only mammals that enter its are;
Summer in the Arctic regions, with i
abundant life on land and in the a
and sea, presents an animated an
cheerful scene compared with the u
ter desolation that reigns perpetual
in Antarctic waters.-M Y. Sun.