The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-06-10
The ueso,ase Res.ons.
The Russian explorer, Prgevalsky,
and alter his retrent iot,rnev nm norfh-

lhe Russian explorer, Prejevalsky.
said alter his recent journey IN north
sern Thibet. that AN enormous
amount OF animal life was supported
! By the scanty herbage growing on
these bleak sterile plains thai form
the highest plateau in the world.
some, 1900 feet above the sea. He
said the wild yaks there uust mum
Der millions, and that full grown
YAK weighs from 1900 TO f.SOO
pounds Natures chemistry eyol-
yes these great masses of flesh from
the poor herbage Of a region so lofty
that its lakes are frozen over until
nearly June, though they are 600
miles nearer the equator than we
are.
Explorers teil US that not only
does animal life abound, but that
man can live in some of the most
desolate parts of the globe. II is a
mistake to suppose that the sahara
desert Is merely a useless, sandy
waste. Much oft lacks not so much
cultvable land as industrious hands
10 make the vast expanse of wither-
ed oaSes blossom again. The Mus
sulman sect known as the Senousi-
ans has for years been digging wells,
irrigatlng the land, and turning
many hundreds Of barren acres into
gardens. TwentY-four years ago
II planted It's headquarters in the
desert near the western border of
Egypt, built reservoirs, and began
plantations, erected converts, and
now 4 population of 5000 people
live at Jarabub, where the soil has
been restored to tertih y by their
labor. There are large areas in the
that need only rain or irri-
CATION TO cover them with yer,lure.
Through these regions pass the car
ayan routes, along which the 5000
camels engaged in the Sanaran com
merce bear their burdens.
Mr. Anderson, civil engineer, who
last year completed sixteen years Of
explorations in South Africa between
the Orange and Zambesi rivers. saws
that the rain ttat falls for a few
weeks every year in the great re-
5lon known as the Kalahara desert
covers the blackened, we'd Ireless
plain with splendid vegetation.
jame Is abundant there, especial
y lions, leopards and ostriches, and
le has counted in this desert twenty
wo lions in a troop, and has seen
'OO ortriches in one fock. Beasts
md birds find sustenance in this re-
,ion where only a few Bushman
hunters live. Far northeast of them
u the semi-arid steppes of Cordo-
an and Darfur, millions of sheep
md cameis exists on the scanty
'asturage of that desert region.
The earliest Arctic explorers
ound IN the little Spitzbereng arch
peiago-where. 1t Is believed no
!uman being rad ever lived-hards
I frelndeer upt Irning the snow with
heir hoois and noses to get at the
chens on which they fed. Many
sindeer live as far north as Little
Dn Island, and several scores of
lem were killed by the Hayes and
olaris expeditions. Musk oxen, or
leir traces, have been found along
ne shores of the great frozen sea as
II north as explorers have attained.
far north of the supposed
mits of animal life, Sound traces Of
iis wonderful quadruped. which
items on the tender shoots o the Arc
-illow, and plOughs up the snow
" moss and lichens.
Ofall parts OF the earth the Ant
rite regions alone are comparative
: destitute of life. Few species of
wing things in the vegetable or
nimal kingdom can endure the rig
: Of the South Polar regions. No
quadruped inhabits the
md within the Antarctic Circle,
51idaht iIfs e 6u land land ana iif II the aif
nd sea, presents an animated and
leerful scene compared with the
tier desolation that reigns perpet-
ally in Antarcic waters-Neir York
gfn