The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-03
OWARFS II MADAGASCAR.
.vrRECANEXPLORER Is TRY
ING TOiIND THEM.

a
shva an boriEInaI Tribe as a
--,-..s-Sone queer Facts About
rbird La eSt Island In the
ID Wild Has Been Newly
,,,exed by Itance.
From the hartford Times.
49, -s-ioual m1eum has just received
ton Of lehurs from DR.. W. z.
who is Employed in exploring
= .-,zosr the Feat island newly an
&C., t.. France. lie is making his way
.rs interior. defensive regions Of
i-- i've never been traversed by the
nm in hoes of coming across
~ the stralke savages who are
g. 1.,rL in theIprimeval forests and
s--,,r fastuessei. There are at least
40 distinct tribes Of Malagassy d"arIs'
a-a among thesmaIest people in the
49, The Kimo5 average only three
s5v inches in Hight. They are rather
--br in color. have remarkably long arms
mi are bold in defnding their territory
/ ,sing spear and bon. or pastoral haDlls'
80 excel In certain handicrafts. They
s-H ia the southern center OF the 81
-rs ii high elevation above the sea
rvan more moukay-lilke are the Behosy,
4 vho occupy a leasely WOODED country
-,0nr the hills of Bemaraha. Ihey
5--r- from tree 10 tree just like monkeys,
al are not easily followed, inasmuch as
--..,~ territory is exceedingly rocky. They
-a very timid, and il Is SAID lhal they
NJ Of fright when captured. IN the
1o-+ naru mart OK Madagascar is the most
-srlarba BE natural fortress in the world.
n is occupied by wild tribe VINO can
Themselves the People of the Rocks. The
fortress is a lofty and precipltous rock,
of enormous siZe-lOcO feet hlgh ana elSht
s1lare miles In area. Its sides are SO
Son that il cannot be climbed without
.-riicfal means. Within, it is hollow, and
fha only entrance is by subterranean
passage. a portion of which is so narrow
that only one person can pass at time,
while on either side OF the path Is deep
water.
There is plenty Of room for exploration
and fresh discovery in Madagascar, which
Is the third largest island in the world.
/ II is nearly four times the size of England
and Wales having an area OF 100000
sluare miles The most remarkable ami
mails found there are the true lemurs,
watch exist nowhere else in the world,
4 though related forms occur in Africa and
India. They are regarded by naturalists
as links connecting the monkeys with the
lower mammals. There are about twenty
e species and the collection, made by Dr.
Abbott contains one that is entirely new
TO science. The biggest are about three
feet long.
one Of the most remarkable species is
called the "specters' because II Is pure
white and in going about at night has a
striking and ghost-like appearance. Other
+ kinds are black, with bands OF yellow and
red, In fact, they are very striking-look-
ing animals. Roughly speaking, they are
divided into two grOups-the long-tailed
and the shOrt-tailed. The later do not
survive captivity for any length of time,
but the long-tailed ones have been brought
10 Europe and have even been induced to
breed in geographically a peculiar ring
tailed species.
There used 70 be lemurs in North Amer
lea long ages before man appeared on this
continent. Prof. Cope, the famous palace
Ontologist, found the skull of one in Colo-
RADIO a few years ago. He regards It as
the most precious object in his great col
lection of fossils. The skull is not bigger
than a squirrels. ANTAGONISTS classify an
imals by their teeth more accurately than
IN any other way. The jaws of this small
lemur are provided with a dentition so
surprisingly human-like that one might
actually imagine the teeth to be those Of
a miniature man
1t is thought that the lemurs may have
Originated on the American continent and
spread westward to Asia over a land
Toute which has since disappeared. That
ls only speculative theory. 1t is practi-
cally certain that there was anciently a
Hand connection between Madagascar and
All I'd a 81 cit AtOlOElGdA CONFUSION nav
Iing separated the island from the main
land, the lemurs In Madagascar found
conditions favorable for their survival,
while elsewhere they disappeared. Thus
E Ut comes about that this strange group
OF mammals is restricted to MADAGASCAR
To-day. They are very monkey-like In
Pact, they might be called low-doWn mon
Keys. They live in trees and feed on
Fruits and insects.
The lemurs wander about in fiocks. By
n -fV Ia
able to leap from tree to tree distances
oi ten feet or more, so that they look
rs IL they were flying. Occasionally they
Delahe themselves to the ground, walking
lor snort spaces erect and waving their
SIlHS over their heads in such a Wav as
20 present remarkable effect Toward
Aghtfall the forests resound with their
startling cries. They eat the eggs of birds
when they can get them. Though dis
toseu by nature to be shy. they are ute
ln captivity.
Recent discoveries of fossils prove that
ieihurs or much greater size formerly
.nHaplted Madagascar. Some of them at
; ioilieu length Of four to five feet One
pOFlaht reason why these curious ami
mas survived and fourished was that
t"eir are almost mo large carnivorous
ossasls on the island. The only large beast
M prey Is the Cryptoprocta-a rare crea-
V lure not very nearly related TO any other
AuoMh animal. Indeed, it composes a
-4nlly all by itself in natural history
o.alssllcation, coming in between the CIV
10 ana the cats. Very few specimens
noEe been obtained for museums II
,UpAs something like a small leopard, and
TueH run grown measures six feet from
y nose to the tip of its tail. On ac-
otht OF It's ferocity and destructiveness.
y much dreaded. 1t somewhat resem :
- huge weasel, preying on the larg-
buhaloes. ~ iAos9 anu even
Al night the woods of MADAGASCAR
vocal with the wailing cries Of the
1i nuIs' which sound like the lamenta-
$3.50 60 OF human beings in distress. These
,oatures have heads more fox-like than
a1sSalAey-llke, with sharp muzzles and
49, 7l expressive eyes. The smallest spe-
% 'lemur is about the size of a bfe-
ar5 Ahother kind has white whiskers
I'M , y another is provided with a bushv
70 when IN repose is usually coiled
'lo the animals neck like a comforter
rrvey strange animal related to the
rer ana likewise peculiar to Madagas-
hori - Ihe aye-aye. 1t feeds on wood
RS sIuos that tunnel into the bark of
bar Inc beast cuts away the outer
h Win its chisel-like teeth, and as
@oTn retreats to the end of its hole.
aller 1t with a finger This finger
r. Iemarkable organ. evidently nTn-
~ W nature for this purpose being
H. IdilY long and armed with a hoo,x-
~ 1 eidW for dragging out the grub.
rIgL+aS e-aye has large eyes for seeing a +
h y ana Widely-eXpanded ears to catch
INT sound of the grub at work me
s.-tEo or MAZDA soay l,orro