Morning journal and courier., 1893-04-27
The determination of wild A nimals.
from the London Standard.l

The determination of wild Animals.
From the London Standard
Doubtless all wild beasts have been re-
firing before the facs of man since the |
dawn Of history, though they often recov-
cred lost ground now and again. There |
were lions in the Delta of the Nile appa-
rently so late as the Persian conquest
They were common in the Holy Land all
through the Old Testament era. We read
that Xerxes suffered heavy loss of cam
els from them in marching through Thrace.
Some of these determinations are unac-
countable. The disappearance of the
crocodile from Lower Egypt cannot be
easily explained, unless we suppose that
the reverence paid to 1t of old gave an ar
tiicial stimulus to the breed. The wild
camel survived Persian and Roman, and
Saracen, occupations of Arabia Petrss,
and in many other parts doubtless; but
while these countries have relapsed to
| their primitive solitude, the camels have
| dwindled to few head, which only one
| traveller has ever bsheld, 30 far as is
known. Several old writer's describe the
giraffe and the z.bra in Nubla, where they
| will be vainly sought now. In fact, the
I true zebra ia said to be utterly extinct, and
the giraffe will vanish in our generation.
Truly that does not concern the average
British ratepsyer, who has no chance of
| beholding these creatures except at the
1900" But the world will be duller,
nevertheless, when wild beasts are exter-
minated.
1t Is not to be hoped that governments
will interfere. The GEAR might do some
thing. He has ordefed vigorous measures
I Gov fhn $50 r,r ho I'd lie
in Siberia; unfortunately he cannot see
that they are carried out. "God and the
car dwell too far off" says the Russian
proverb. And he is not concerned with
those animals which specially interest us
the creatures of legend and fairy tale and
books of notwithstanding wolves, of
course, which can very we'll take care of
themselves. 1t is our own government,
| especially, which should bestir itself But
there is no hope there. Authorities who
look on helplessly while jungle product
30 priceless IS gutta perchs grows more
and more scarce year by year, not even
discussing measures to save 1t by the SIM
pie process of forming plantations, is not
likely to distress itself over the fate of
wild bsasts. But individuals might do
something. There are gentlemen of wealth
| and taste beyond number who should feel
the determination Of big gsme-personal-
ly and by sympathy with their sons, who
will be deprived of the pleasure they
knew. At triAing cost and trouble such
men might stock the countless islands of
the east with graminivorous animals, an
telopes of the rarer epecies-they will be
all rare enough soon-buffalo, even ele-
plants. The population mostly Is so
small and 80 rude in its ways of life that
they could do no harm.
We have a most encouraging caee In
Borneo. It is little more than thirty years
since Sir Spencer St. John, who knew
most parts of that island thoroughly, re-
ported the existence of elephants In the
northwest as doubtful story circulating.
The natives said they had heen turned
loose at the end of the last century, and
upon inquiry Spencer found that this
much was certainly true. The honorable
East India company presented four fe-
males and two males to the sultan of Sulu
l-ehief of the pirate hordes. He received
them courteously, though with a sense
that his small, densely peopled island of
Sugh could not support suoh great beasts.
Accordingly, so soon as the ship had de-
parted, he embarked the elephants again
and landed them on the coast of Borneo.
1t has long been certain that those beasts
do exist on the northwestern coast-not
elsewhere. A gentleman In the employ of
the North Borneo company lately shot no
| Aoee enou Aou. Al Liontu, tuouSu NC Was
not seeking them. And he reported herds
in the interior. That the Extraordinary
account of their introduction Is exact can
not be doubted. The elephant breeds
commonly at twenty-five years of age; thus
in less than five generations large dis
trict has been been stocked. Such an in
crease will seem astonishing to those who
have observed the Indian elephant. There
are many thousand miles of forest lands
in those parts where all manner of big
game would be welcome.