Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1890-04-12
SOME UNKNOWN LANDS.

Cnree-1ourthS Is covered with water.
This leaves 10000, 900 of square miles of
land for the human race to occupy, or
about one square mile for every thirty
five persons, big and little.
II would seem that such on area would
be enough to prevent crowding, and 30
it would, says Golden Days, If tho
density of population were the same all
over the world.
But VIC find that the human race.
other from choice or accident, has al
ways hudd!ed itself into certain parts Of
the world, leaving other parts either en-
tirely deserted or very sparsely popu-
lated. Some very good reasons some
times exist for these Irregularities, and
at other times the reasons are hard to
find.
We can easily understand why Green
land, for instance, or Patagonia sh ould
not be densely settled, but it is not easy
to understand how the great continent
of Australia came to be so long without
inhabitants.
1t Is curious to note the queer way in
which populations have shifted in the
course OF ages. Asia, as the cradle Of
the human race, first became thickly
settled, and contains to-day two coun-
trios-China and Hindostan-where the
population is extremely dense. But
portions of Asia-such as Arabia and
Persia-from all accounts must have
lost half, IL not more, of their popula-
ton during the last thousand years.
Great as the Shah of Persia fancies
himself to be, he is but puny prince
compared with the great Darius or
Xerxes.
Africa has likewise suffered an 2nor-
nous loss of population since ancient
times. We have ample proof that the
valley Of the Nile once swarmed with
life, and all through North Africa, now
almost desert, given up to wild beasts
and wilder men, civilization once -four
ished to a remarkable extent.
Europe was settled from the south,
and the worry small portion comprising
Italy, Spain and the islands of the Med
iterranean Sea were populous for
centuries, while that we know now as
France, Germany, England, Austria and
Russia were forests and deserts, quite
as barbarous and uncultivated as tho
present interior of Africa.
These were the countries of antiquity,
North and South America and Australia
being unknown. Yet the two former
were 6ensely populous in ages long ago.
The valleys of the Missouri, Ohio and
Mississippi swarmed with people on
gagged in business and agriculture; Mex
ice had population much exceeding
its present one; the ruins of great cities
in Central America attest its former
greatness, and it Is certain that Peru,
hn M . - 1T
civilization. Australia, however, has
always been a sparsely-settled country.
Such have been the changes Of timo
that much of tho world is still an I'M
known land, and we are. now busily en-
gagged in discovering much that was
known before.
Europe has nothing to disclose, but n
great part of Asia and nearly three
fourths of':hfricay is still sealed book
to us moderns. The explorations of
Stanley and those who preceded him
are mere spider tracks in the desert, and
our best maps of Africa are half guess
work. i. 80 -.
In Asia, there is Thibet, Turkestan
and the great desert Of Sahara to be ex-
plorcd. We know almost nothing of
Borneo, Papua or Madagascar, and
thousands of islands in the Pacific Ocean
arc still UNEMPLOYED.
Great tracts Of Australia have never
been trodden by the foot Of white
man, and nearly oil Of South America,
inside of the coast lines, is known only
by hearsay and tradition. Coming up
to our northern half Of the continent
we encounter moro unknown lands.
Central America and Mexico offer fertile
fields for exploration, and Lower Cali
fornia has never been thoroughly OK
plored.
Even in the new State of Washington
there is an unknown land of $500 square
miles. This land is shut in by the
Olympic mountains, and Indian tradi-
lions cay that 1t is inhabited by very
fierce tribe, which none Of the coast
tribes dared modest.
Here, then, Is half Of our sc, 200, 900
square miles conaiatin1 ~ ,,ol,ro,,,..