The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-20

former plant growth in the region, tina
even at the present day, at distanc'
of only 80 miles from Inifel. and in tn
valley of the Oued Mya, coDse o
brushwood thicket of Italian poplars i
! TO be met with.
Wet and Dry Weather Animals Ii
Australia.
Australia has for many years beer
to the naturalist the faunal exclusion
of the animal world; it's remarka BILE
nlarsupial fauns, and the equally re-
markable absence of almost all mann
malian types that are not marSupla
in character. have given to its fauna
an interest and importance which have
in no way been diminished by the dis
! covery, few years ago, that two of its
quadrupets-the duck-bill or ornitho-
rhynchus and spiny- dgehog-brought
forth their young, in the manner OF
birds and reptiles, from laid eggs. OF
he special conditions which sur
rounded this fauna, comparatively lit
lie was known before the geological
explorations of the last few years, and
even today our knowledge is restricted
TO special areas~of the continent In a
summary of the result of researches
made by the Horn expedition, which
laS Just been published, Professor
Baldwin Spencer OF the University of
Melbourne furnishes the following pen
picture of the animal life of the land:
The permanent fauna, he states, may
be divided into two groups, the first
containing those animals which can
always be found during the dry sea-
ion, the second containing those which
only appear during the short wet sea-
son. The collector who sets to work
in the dry season is first of all struck
with the fact that there is wonder
full poverty of animal life except so
far as regards ants, flies. grasshoppers
and certain beetles. birds and lizards
He naturally misses almost all forms of
life associated with well-wooded dis
tricts or with the sheltered pools of
permanent rivers. and he readily ap-
preciates the influence of a climatic
barrier.
After turning over every available
stick and hundreds of stones and find
ing no trace of moisture, he realizes
how impossible it is for creatures, such
as land planariars or peripatus or even
the widespread land amphipod to ex-
wearied with the unsuccessful search
after insects or Towering shrubs. and
day after day he finds the same forms
OF life. Every water-hole, every long
plain on sandhill yields a wearying,
monotonous and small series of ami
mails, until he begins TO realize that
the fauna is characterized by the en-
tire absence of the rich series of species
NJ the costal districts al the presence
of, relatively few dominant species
which are evidently capable of adapt
ing themselves to- conditions of the
most unfavorable description of animal
ne. In the wet season the fauna
changes as if by magic. insects formerly
Unseen come about in swarms. fresh
water crustaceans crowd the cIay-pans
and water-holes, caterpillars in thou
sands creep about, the majority of them
simply falling prey to the lizards.
frogs and birds, which increase with
like rapidity. AT the same time though
animal life is now abundant it is COM
posed of relatively few species. each
existing in enormous numbers. Prob
ably toward the close of the favorabl
season horde of migratory rats will
pass ike a wave across the country.
into the depths of the
desert, where they perish. For a time
the small marsuDials will be more or
less abundant, but soon they also will
to aestivate during the dry
season or to come out from their hid
ing places during the cool of the night
the majority of them probably per
ishing before they reach maturity.
hapidly the country assumes its dry |
nardier fauns, which can withstand the |
heat and dryness. and the few inhabi- |
ants OF the deepee and scattered water |
holes.
People without u God.
a people has recently been discovered
n the Congo Basin, Africa, that, so
ar as can be learned, has no religion.
Ind no conception of a supreme being
There is, also. very little indication of
superstition among them. They are the
5anziris, and the territory occupied by
hem is mostly on the northern shore
II the Oubanghi. 1t is not believed
nat they number more than 5. 900 souls
and fishing is their occu-
'ation, but they live in villages. when
iot on the water, their habitations be-
nS round huts, made of plated straw,
nd covered with matched roofs.
,apoes, made from trees, serve for
nelr water-craft, and in these they
i've much of the time during the dry
eason, when the sandbars in the river
re exposed. They are much given to a
ay life, and delight in singing and
acing- At times they become exceed
agly bolsterous. Their countenances
re pleasant and intelligent, with merry
osed and hospitable toward strangers.
The only feature in adornment is
'hich these people devote any atten-
on is the headdreSS. This is built IN
nth both the true and false hair until
becomes an elaborate affair. the
'ork being done by the women. who
now much good taste and dexterity in |
le performance. The warriors add a
'ather to their headdress. usually from
parrot When in mourning these !
are laid aside. and the hair !
orn IN the ordinary way
Fish afford their staple food; but the $
len are fond OF dog-meat, which, how )
yer, is denied to the women. Other !
'od is bananas, and a little corn and l
li,let. I
These people differ in language. an |
and customs from the neigh !
BRING tribes, except one that they re- I
.mble in some respects. Altogether l
ley may be considered as the finest !
nd most philosophical savages of the
resent day.
lgenious Method of Overcowi,-
"Rockins- In High Buildings.
Any one who has visited the upper :.
)ors of New York or Boston or Chi
go sky-scrapers" during a high a
ind, must have experienced the I'M
easant sensation known as rocking" s
other words he has felt the building e
liver and even sway sensibly beneath a
$ feet The narrower of the tall a
ructures are, of course, especially o
one to rocking" Mr.. Harry Law "
nee, tenant of the notable American Il
act society's building. in Nassau i
rect, New York. is responsible for the 4
atement that that giant edifice sways
foot in an average high wind, and.
ring a gale even exceeds that limit a.