The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-03-15

on the pampas of the Southern steppe, making due allowance for the differ ance in area. That of Washington State is 66,00O square miles, or about i one-twelfth of the Argentine plains emitting the Indian Territories. Set ting the 'elk" of Washington against | the cattle of the pampas, and compar- 1 ing the sheep of the latter with the deer that Is, mule-deer and black-tailed deer, the common species of the North | western States-the number of sheep on an acreage as large as the State of Washington is more than eight mil lions. Tn other words, if the natural head of wild game maintained by the State of Washington were proportion ed to the number of one domesticated species grazing on the pampas, the State would support not one hundred thousand deer, but eight millions of deerl
 Formerly the gray and misty levels Of these plains showed in winter but little life except the scattered herds of wild horses, and the viscachas sitting by thir burrows. Now on these chosen pastures the hordes of cattle blacken the plains. The millions of sheep, herd ed by dogs which have become almost part of the flocks outnunlber the anci- ent "treks" of the springbok of South Africa Instead of the vast and oppres- sive silence of the plains, the lowing of herds and the bleating of flocks fill the air with sound. And yet we are said to be only at the beginning of this great artificial revival of animal life. That modification of the herbage which Dar- win noted as produced by cattle in the more populous and anciently settled territories has spread over millions of acres. On these the tall, rough grass, so high that cattle could not be seen in 1t except the gauchos stood on their horses as lookout posts to gain a view, has given way to turf close, compast, and of treble the nutritive powers of the unimproved grasses.
 As the cattle and sheep increased al- most beyond the possibility of con- sumption as food, while the former were killed for their hides and the lat ter for their tallow, the very birds be- came dernoraized and carnivorous, like
 
 The whole region of the pampas now swarms with those carnivorous hawks and vultures which Darwin noted as one among the significant features of the plains. The greater of these mill lions of sheep and cattle are slaughter ed in the country, and leave large part of their carcasses5 as offal round the estancias and slaughter-houses, for only trimmed estancias and the slaugh- ter-houses, for only trimmed carcasses or the essence of beef in such forms as Bovrl or Liebig areeshipped across the sea. The vultures, eagles, buzzards, and caracara hawks gorge themselves daily on this waste flesh. and like the owls In the vole plague. become pro- prolific fromshigh feeding, and are almost without fear of man, whose i leavings they consume. Pumas and jaguars kill the sheep and colts; and a race of feral cats which the hawks, fed to repletion on beef and mutton, leave unnolested.
 Except in the occasional great | lrouths, this South American steppe is the most prolific in animal life of any | region of the earth. It's production are scarcely within sight. When its turn | ,omes to attract human population at | Ill in proportion to it's capacity for 'eeding nations it seems marked by | Nature as the home of the most popul- ,us, and possibly the most prosjerous, nation of the New World or the Old.- The Spectator.