The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-08-16
NO BIG ANIMALS.
WHAT VAST AREAS OF LANp IN
ToRRlp COUNTRIES LACK.

WHAT VAST AREAS OF LANp IN
ToRRlp COUNTRIES LACK.
seme Districts In which There Arc No
wild Animals of Considerable Sine.
Islands of tho West Indian Archipel-
ago Called . "Gsmeiess Country"
A Russian naturalist. Professor Ma
clay, who passed several years in the in
terror of Papua, describes the highland
district of the great island as q region
as remarkable for its scenery and pro-
ductiveness as for its salubrious crimate
Ia perpetual May in the terrace lands,
with March and April plateaas here and
there in the highest mountains. The
area of the whole island exceeds that
Of Texas, but its population hardly
aggregates n 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 huntingI
grounds to the swoltering coast junglesl
is their preference for q climate that
enables them to dispense with dry goods
the year round.
In the Torres range there are submits
towering to the height of II 900 feet, but
the close proximity of the equator has
covered the highlands with luxuriantI
vegetation. Snow is hardly ever seen,
but chill nights-ight frost even-occurI
now and then, and the frizzle haired
coast jewellers avoid the mountains as
the Indios Mansos of the Mexican low
lands avoid the TERRA fra. Papua is o.
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 a 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.
Nopuinas or jaSuars Though both are
found on the coasts of the neighboring
mainland), no panthers, lynx or wildcat.
1 Foxes, wolves and jackals. too, are con.
spicuous by their absence. The caves
of the limestone Sierra would seem to
be admirably adapted to marnots and
e woodchucks, but they are tenanted only
q by bats. On the fine highland pastures
' there arc no bisons, no deer, no antelopes
= and, strange to say, not even rabbits
1 Sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, cows
{ hoE,r- md even dogs were introduced
0 aft Sf,e Spanish conquest, and the only
. dom " mammal kept by the native:
: at tho time of discovery was small
! kind of wolf prairie wolff imported
b from Mexico, and few species of SOUR
o rels, which the Cubans fattened fol-
culinary purposes without knowing any.
+ thing about o classic precedent--the
gliraria (rat kennels) of the ancient
Romans. who preferred dormouse on
). toast to the best Syrian pheasant pies.
g Dogs and cats were unknown, and
is that lack of household pets seems tt
il have driven the aborigines to strange
IS expedieuts, for in "Ogilvy's Voyages
" there is an account of San Doming
,r cacique who kept tame manatee tina
h made its headquarters in an artiticis
70 pond and was so well tanned that "whel
"a called by its name, Matoom, it woul(
~ come ont of the water and go directly Il
a the caoique's house, where, being fed, /
returned to the pond, accompanied b.
men and boys, who seemed to charm til
manatee by their singing, and it ofte
carried two children at time on il
n back. Being once, however, struck b
pike in the hands Of a Spaniard
would never after come out of the watt
= If clothed man were near.
nv Manatees have become rather scare
or on the coast of San Domingo, but al
iy' often seen near the Island of Pine
iii' northwest Of Cuba, where shoals of IL
,rs strange creatures may be seen sportin
", about the reef like the sea lions belo
on the Cliff House. OF all aquatic man
,nI mails the munatee, however, can clai
nd the championship III the art of dodgiI
ny a sudden attack; q leveled harpoon
on enough to make them plunge ind
with mo you don't" snort, and thu
. pop up again at unexpected times al
an. places, waving their fippers in derisio
est and ready to disappear for good at t
first suspicious motion.
The luxury Of the Doma,ican caciq
lac was therefore not apt to be shared
ir,. many of his subjects. Puppies and k
md tens We're never seen in their cabins, a,
on the largest land animal of the island W
a.. an overgrown rat, known as the hut
' Wv and measuring about eighteen inch
al without the tail. Its caudal appenda
'yd is compromise between that of the tr
rat and the California gopher, whom
ake resembles in its fondness for grain a
in its burrowing mania, one pair owni
IN. often as many as four different de-
81 more or less connected by subterrane
the tunnels
ara ar With the exception of that shy rode
Cuba, San Domingo, Jamaica and Co
yep. Rica have no land creatures deservi
,ard the name of game animal, for even
YIN omnivorous appetite of the Hayt
A'is darlties draws the line at the mi
-uai scented giant rats of the coast forests
you San Francisco Chronicle.