The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-03-21
VANISHING AFRICAN FAUNA.

tinent Nearly Observation-Disclosures of
the Elephants-The Hippopotamus
Antelope, Gnu, Giraffe and Zebra AL
most Gone.
The rapid diminution in the number of
many kinds of big game in Africa, and
the extinction, within living memory, of
some others, are matters of common
knowledge to 'sportsnlen and naturalsts.
That wild animals are always driven
back before advancing civilization is a
truism The slaughter of the African
fauna, however, has been so great and So
purposeless that, could the story Of the
last hundred years be told in all it's full
ness, it would appear Incredible.
Naturally, the elephant claims first
place. 1t Is still fairly abundant in CEN
trail Africa, but in South Africa, where
1t formerly swarmed, It is rapidly APP
preaching extinction
Oswell, the friend of Livingstone, who
first visited Africa on a hunting expe-
dition in 1874, has told the story, all too
briefly, of his experiences. and expressed
the opinion that to our great-great-
grandchildren the African elephant will
be as the mammoth is to us. Kirby
clothes the same opinion in almost iden-
teal language, and, after urging that
the past which cannot be recalled,
should induce sportsmen to shoot fairly,
and be satisfied with enough, Is justly
severe on those who deliberately bowl
over ewes and cows" with the one idea
of topping the record The traffic in
ivory means the extinction of the ele-
plant; but to kill an elephant for its
tusks seems the worst possible use to
which one can put such mighty beast.
Sir Samuel Baker pleaded for protection,
and still more strongly that some at
tempt should be made to domestieate
the African elephant, condemning the
apathy even of European settlers, who
have hitherto ignored the capabilities of
this useful creature. When the late
Sultan of Zanzibar visited our Zoologi-
cal Gardens, and saw Jumbo carrying
loads of delighted children, he asked
why these animals We're not utilized in
his own country. The late Mr.. Bartlett
was always interested in the subject,
and advocated, as does Mr.. Sclater, the
secretary of the Geological society, the
bringing over of trained Indian ele-
phants and natives used to keddah
work, to east Africa. Gordon, too,
boned IA amnlov the eIenhant in trans
mort IN Africa and shortly before the
foil of Kbartoum wrote to Mr.. Sclater
an tbe s,,biect Tn Cane Colony the ele
miami has haen protected since 1890 a
permit being necessary to kill a single
spectn,en. there il also a measure of
nrotection in tbe East Africa Protecto
rate, and in German East Africa, where
permit for two elephants ana TWO rhl-
noceroses costs twenty-five pounds.
The hippopotamus appears TO pc ex-
tinct in Natal, where the last specimen,
fine old bull, now in the Durban mu-
scum, was killed about twelve months
ago, the government having consented
to the determination of the small herd
living in Sea Cow Lake sinaii lagoon
near Durham, on account OF the damage
they did in the sugar-cane plantations.
The few that stu remain IN Aululand
are all that are lett III BRUSH South AL
RIGA. Rhlnoceroses, TOO are becoming
scarce, and the Whlte or square,
mouthed, form is practcally eHtinct'
In 1886 hfteen were killed. ana IN the
following year Selous saw the tracks OF
two or three. Writing in 1893, that ia
nous hunter said that, twenty years pc
fore, 1t was common amman over an
enormous extent of country IN central
south Africa. In the same year ME.
Coryndon obtained two specimens, one
of which went to the British museum
CNatural History ana the othef TO wall
ter Rothschild's museum at Irlng'
A Sad Tale About Antelopes.
rbaro ia cod ta1a IN tel, about the
onto,onas cor,va11is Harris hunted in
south Afr;o. ,,+o i, tho "thirties, and
dosori,i,g tbe 90 ,,,e IN a tract near the
voo1 ri,,er i, Tho Orange Free state he
cove. ..rho ,,,,,,,o, of wild animals o,,
49,, w., al .1roost raalized fable
~ no,dr 49, ~, +,,eir incessant t,amn
t,1i,,a ~ 49, ,1-travolad bipb-
,,ro,,s A. o,,ar,r ete,, incredible herds Of
ho,+e,,,,c1,s llastnclks and snrinehucks
,,,it,, +rooas - ,,,,,,s and so,,adrons Of
ts .s', co,,,n,nn ~ strineless ol,aega. were