Los Angeles herald., 1892-09-03
NO BIG ANIMALS.
WHAT VAST AREAS OF LAND IN
ToRRID COUNTRIES LACK.

Some Districts in which There Are No
wild Animals of Considerable Size.
Islands of tho West Indian Archipel-
ago Called "Gameless Country"
A Russian naturalist, Professor Ma
CLAW. who passed several years in the in
terror of Papua, describes the highland
district of the great island as region
rs remarkable for its scenery and pro-
ductiveness as for its salubrPus 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 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
toweringto the height of Il, 900 feet, but
the close proximity of the equator has
covered the highlands with 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
paradise of birds, but the kingdom of
mammals is represented only by 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" region of
more than hundred thousand square
miles, monopolized almost entirely by
birds and insects (even reptiles being
oSQlCCJ, ttS IL ullC dlSlliPCldSO llttu DStu
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.
No r,rr,, ~. PC (tbo,, oh 1>otl, o,.o
found on the coasts of the neighboring
mainland), no panthers, lynx or wildcat.
Foxes, wolves and jackals, too, are con-
spicuous by their absence. The caves
of the limestone Sierra would seem to
be admirably adapted to marmots and
woodchucls, 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 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-th
gliraria (rat kennels) of the ancient
Romans, who preferred dormouse ON
toast to the. best Syrian pheasant pies.
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 sowell tanned that "when
called by it's name, Matoom, it would
come out of the water and go directly to
the cacique's 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
a pike in the hands of Spaniard it
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 the
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 lodging
q sudden attack; leveled harpoon is
enough to make them plunge under
with emo you don't" snort, and then
pop up again at unexpected times and
places, waving their fiippers in derision,
and ready to disappear for good at the
first suspicious motion.
The luxury of the Dominican cacique
was therefore not apt to be shared by
many of his subjects. Puppies and kit
tens were never seen in their cabins, and
the largest land animal of the island was
an overgrown rat, known as the hutia,
and measuring about eighteen inches
without the tail. It's caudal appendage
is compromise between that of the true
rat and the California gopher, whom it
resembles in its fondness for grain and
in its burrowing mania, one pair owning
often as many as four different dens,
more or less connected by subterranean
tunnels.
With-the exception of that shy rodent,
Cuba, San Domingo, Jamaica and Costa
Rica have 10 land creatures deserving
the name of game animal, for even the
omnlvorous appetite of the Haytian
darkieS draws the line at the ml1sk