The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1892-08-20
NO BIG ANIMALS.
WHAT VAST AREAS OF LAND m
ToRRlD COUNTRIES LACK.

some Districts in which There Are No
wild Animals OF Considerable Size.
Islands of the West Indian ArohipeI-
ago Called a "GameIess Country"
A Russian naturalist. Professor Ma
tlay, who passed several years in the in
terior Of Papua, describes the highland
district of the great island as region
rs remarkable for its scenery and pro-
ductiveness as for its salubrious crimate
"a perpetual May in the terrace lands,
with March and April plateaus here and
there in the highest mountains. The
area Of the whole island exceeds that
of Texas, but its population hardly
aggregates a million, nine-tenths Of the
aborigines being lowland settlers. black
idlers gorged with the yam roots and
wild hog steaks of the coast plain. The
uplands, too, abound with game and fish,
and the only conceivable reason why the
natives should limit their hunting
grounds to the sweltering coast jungles
is their preference for climate that
enables them to dispense with dry goods
the year round.
In the Torres range there are SUBMITS
towering to the height of l / 900 feet, but
the close proximity Of the equator has
covered the highlands with u luxuriant
vegetation. Snow is hardly ever seen,
but chill nights-light frost even-occur
now and then, and the frizzle haired
coast dwellers avoid the mountains as
the Indios Mansos Of the Mexican low
lands avoid the TERRA fria. Papua is a
paradise of birds, but the kingdom of
mammals Is represented only by a few
marsupials ground kangaroos, tree
kangaroos and opossums), besides the
wild hogs Of the river jungles.
A much stranger country in regard to
the absence of wild animals is found in
the near neighborhood of our own con-
tinent. The West Indian archipelago,
with its four magnificent islands and
countless islets, has been justly termed
the ."gameless country" a region of
more than hundred thousand square
miles, monopolized almost entirely by
birds and insects (even reptiles being
scarce), as if the archipelago had been
somehow overlooked on the last two
days of creation, and left to be settled
by such creatures as could reach its
coasts swimming or flying. There are
forests teeming with spontaneous fruit,
but no monkeys, no wild hogs, no bears
or raccoons. The larger carnivora are
not represented by single species.
Nopumas or iaguars Though both are
found ON the coasts of the neighboring
mainland), no panthers, lynx or wildcat
] ltrau nj 100 n1a Ngn
spicuous by their absence. The caves
of the limestone Sierra would seem to
be admirably adapted to maTmots and
woodchucks, but they are tenanted only
by bats. On the fine highland pastures
there are no bisons, no deer, no antelopes,
and, strange to say, not even rabbits.
Sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, cows,
hogs and even dogs were introduced
after the Spanish conquest, and the only
domestic mammal kept by the natives
at the time of discovery was q small
kind of wolf (prairie wolff imported
from Mexico, and few species of squir-
rels, which the Cubans fattened for
culinary purposes without knowing any
thing about classic precedent-the
gliraria rat kennels) of the ancient
Romans, who preferred dormouse on
toast to the best Syrian pheasant pics.
Dogs and cats were unknown, and
that lack Of household pets seems to
have driven the aborigines TO strange
expedients, for in "Ogilvy's Voyages
there is an account of a San Domingo
cacique who kept tame manatee that
made its headquarters in an artificial
pond and was so well tanned that "when
called by its name, Matoom, it would
come out of the water and go directly to
the caciques house, where, being fed, it
returned to the pond, accompanied by
men and boys, who seemed to charm the
manatee by their singing, and it often
carried two children at a time on its
back. Being once, however, struck by
pike in the hands Of a Spaniard il
would never after come out of the water
if clothed man were near.
Manatees have become rather scarce
ON the coast of San Domingo, but are
often seen near the Island of Pinos
northwest Of Cuba, where shoals of tht
: strange creatures may be seen sporting
about the reef like the sea lions below
the Cliff House. OF all aquatic nam
mails the manatee, however, can CLAIM
the championship in the art of dodginl
y a sudden attack; a leveled harpoon il
n enough to make them plunge undei
o with mo you don't" snort, and theI
n pop up again at unexpected times ant
r places, waving their fippers in derision
y and ready to disappear for good at tn
d first suspicious motion.
r The luxury Of the Doma,ican caciqu
o was therefore not apt 10 be shared b,
d many Of his subjects, Puppies and kit
10 tens were never seen in their cabins, AM
is the largest land animal of the island wa
c an overgrown rat, known as the hutia
+ and measuring about eighteen inche
n without the tail. Its caudal appendag
1r is a compromise between that Of the tru
ID rat and the California gopher, whom
S, resembles in its fondness for grain an
le in its burrowing mania, one pair ownin
often as many as four different dem
to more or less connected by subterranea
We tunnels.
Id With the exception Of that shy roden
is Cuba, San Domingo, Jamaica and Cost
le Rica have no land creatures deservin
or the name Of game animal. for even tn
es omnivorous appetite of the Haytia
so iarlIies draws the line at the mus
ed scented giant rats Of the coast forests
de San Francisco Chronicle.