Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-31

! the rain follow in a torrentlal downpour
hushing the storm and the strife, and de
/ scend in cascades from the drowning trees
| We have watched the humus absorbing
| the rain-water as it fell until like sponge
| it was full, and the water rising by inche.
around US, and for twelve, fifteen ano
| eighteen hours the rain has steadily
poured until it seemed as though we were
never to see dry ground again. And then
after an uneasy night, Weakened now ano
then by falling tree, which made the
earth quake, or an unusual laundering
overhead, as loud as If a planet had ex.
ploded, | have sat and watched the steam.
| ing vapor rise in blue clouds and sail UP
among the still foliage in notwithstanding
folds, and have wondered how the atmos-
phere would ever become clear again
Yet, within few hours the sun would be
shining with purified luster again, and
every now and then as some strata of foli-
age would be lifted by sportive breeze
there would be subtle changes of light
| and the dull green and damp leaves would
shine with ftful life.
When there is so much vigorous life
| round about US in these eternal woods, it
did seem strange TO US that vegetable
life was SO incommunicable with our own.
Bat yesterday we sympathized with the
trees as they roared in pain and torment,
battling with the angry storm, and as
they stand now, so spectral and still in
mute peacefulness. still so keen are our
sympathies with them that one fancies
there should be some mode of speech be-
tween US and them. | saw that some were
many centuries old, some in prime of life
with every fiber healthy, some glorious in
youth and strength, some goitrous, warty,
ulcerous, stunted and unwholesome, some
slaves OF slaves strangled by rigid clutch
of pythonous parasite, the parasite in its
turn bound firm with exceeding tension
by snaky ereeper, and that also covered
with lichen and moss; some with great
sores exuding globules and pastils of
gummy matter, the ants feeding on them
like flies on pus; some old, ancient, palsied
by lightning stroke; life, death and de-
cay all around as with us.
| have been absorbed in comparing the
existence of some of these tree Kings
with the events of human history. That
splendid palm by the riverside took root
half century before the great glague of
London. Wonder stately boInbax SPRING
ing up a head and neck above
myriads was born probably about the time
of that memorable scene ID Calvary; that
wrinkled ironwood, four feet in diameter,
was an infant under the shelter of his old
sire when the Tower of Babel was build
ing.
And what office, if any, may one of
these forest giants hold, whose blossoming
crown and globe of foliage rise so high
above the herd? Is he the sire OF the
tribe? Does it herald the dawn and the
morning sun, and bid the trees unfold
their buds, and shake their leaves for re-
joicing? Or has it gained such proud
pre-eminence by It's selfish and exuberant
vitality? But 10 the storm approaches,
there is fury and wrath, the thunderbolt
falls, and the proud king falls severed at
the neck. You almost hear the cry of
'The King is dead, long live the King ~
Since | have made my map | have
taken the trouble to measure the extent
of the area covered by this forest, and |
find it to be something like 224,000,000
acres, and, if we allow each tree thirty
feet around for sufficient space, and only
forty-eight trees TO the acre, we have the
colossal figure of 1872, 100000 as the
total number, and, if we calculate the
plants and saplings of the impenetrable
underground, we shall be among the in
calculable billions.
THE PYGMIEs.
The longevity of the animal creation
found in the rivers and shades of these
aged woods is something worth CHANGING at.
The elephant and the hippopotamus and
the crocodile may boast of their 400 years
of life, the tortoise century, the buffalo
30 years, the cows, eagles, ibis and touracos
nearly a century, the parrot, the heron and
famingo 60 years.
From the chimpanzees, balloons and
monkeys, with which the forest abounds,
is but step, according to Darwinism.
to the pygmy tribes whom we found in
habiting the tract of country between
the Ihuru and Ituri rivers They were
known to exist by the Father OF
Poets nine centuries before the beginning
Der Homer wrote about the sanguin-
airy battle that was reported to have
taken place between the pygmies and the
storks In the fifth century before Christ,
Herodotus described the capture of FIVE
young explorers from Nassamoves while
they were examining some curious trees in
the Niger basin, and how the little men
took them to their villages and showed
them about to their fellow pygmies, much
as Won would like US to show the pygmies
about England. The geographer Heka-
tseus in the fifth century located the pyg-
mics near the Equator of Africa, under the
shadows of the Mountain of the Moon.
and find that from Hipparchus down.
ward geographers have faithfully followed
the example OF Hekataus, and nearly a
year ago we found them where they had
been located by tradition, under the
names of Watwa and Wambutti The
forces which we have been Just consider
ing extends right up to the base line OF
the Mountains of the Moon.
We are Just now paving due reverence to
the kings of the forest who were born be-
fore the foundations of the tower on Shinar
plain were laid, and because it seemed to
us that in their life they united prehistoric
times to this society journal loving nine
tenth century. Let us pause little and
pay honor to those little people who have
outlived the proud Pharaohs of Egypt, the
chosen people Of Palestine and the Empe.
loIS vi Dapy ioi, uneven, Tersla ana the
Macedonian and Roman Empires. They
have actually been able to hold their lands
for over fifty centuries. have lately seer
the wear and tear on the Pyramids Of
Egypt, and / can certify that the old
Sphynx presents very battered appear
ance indeed, but the pygmies appeared tc
me as bright, as fresh and as young as the
generation which Homer sang about.
You will therefore understand that /
who have always professed to love human
ity in preference to beetles loud laughter
was as much interested in these small
creatures as Henry irving might be in tn,
personnel of the lyceum. Near a plac,
called Avetiko, on the Ituri river, oul
hungry men found the first male and fe
male of the pygmies squatted in the mids
OF wild Eden peelipg plantains Yol