New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-03-19
VANISHING AFRICAN FAUNA
MANY SPECIES PECULIAR To THE DARK
CONTINENT NEARLY EXTINCT.
CT ,ycuTrR OF THE ELEPHANTS HIPPO
POTAMUs ANTELOPE, GNU. GIRAFFE AND
ZEBRA ALMOST GONE.
From The London Standard.

From The London STANDARD
The rapid diminuton i'm the number OF many
kinds of big game in Africa, and the extinction,
within living memory of some others, are mat
ters of common knowledge to sportsinen anu
naturalists That wild animals are always
driven back before advancing civilization Is
truism The slaughter of the African iauha'
however has been So great and so purposeess
that could the story Of the last hundred years
be told in all its fulness, 1t would appear IN
credible.
NATURALLY the elephant claims first place. 1t
is still fairly abundant in Central Africa, but
in South Africa where il formerly sWarned, IL
is rapidly approaching extinction.
Oswcn The friend Of Livingstone, who hIst
visited Africa on a hunting expedition in INf4.
has told the story. all too briefly. Of ms eX-
pcriences and expressed the opinion that 20 our
great great grandchildren the African elephant
will be the mammoth Is to us. klrpy 'iotheS
the same opinion in almost ldenllcdl language,
and. after urging that the past when CANNOT
Ire recalled. should induce sportsmen to SHOOT
fairly. and be satisfied with enough Is justly
severe on those who deliberately bo"I over
ewes AMI COWS" with the ore idea Of topping the
record The traffic in ivory means the eXtihc-
ton of the elephant; but to Kill an elephant
for its tusks the worst possible use 10
which one can put such mighty beast. SIR
Samuel Baker pleaded for protection. and sun
more strongly that some attempt should be ndue
to domcsticatc the African elephant condemn
ing the apathy even of European settlers. VINO
have hitherto ignored the capabilities or TINS
useful creature. When the late Sultan Of IanZ-
bar visited our Geological Gardens and saw
Jumbo carrying loads OF delighted children, he
asked why these animals were not utilized IN
his own country. The late Mr.. Bartlett was al
ways Interested in the subject. and advocated.
as does Mr.. SciatrE the secretary or the Zoo
logical Society the bringing over Of trained Ind
ian elephants. and natives used 10 X ddah work,
I'D East AfriCl Gordon too. hoped To employ
the elephant in transport in Africa. and. shortly
before the fall If Khartoum. wrote TO MI. ScIdter
on The subject In Cape Colony the elephant has
been protected since $50 permit beng n"ces-
sary To- Kill a single specimen; there Is also
measure IF protection i'm the East Africa Pro-
tectoratr ard IN German East Africa where a
permit FOR two elephants and two rhin"cef"ses
The hippopotamus appears To be- extinct in
Natal where the last specimen a fine old bull.
bow H. the Durham Museum, was Killed about
twelve months ago. the Government having con
scented L. the determination Of the small herd
living IT, Sea Cow Lake. a small lagoon near
Durham. account Of the damage they did IN
the sugar-ca plantations. The few that SIM
remain m Xululand all that are left in British
South Africa. Rhinoceroses. too, are becoming
scarce. ana the white. or sluare-nouthed. form
is practically extinct In lNS6 fifteen were Killed,
and i'm the following year Scous tn" tracks
Of two or three. Writing in 1Nc' thar famous
hunter said that. twenty years before. II was a
common animal over enormous extent or
country i'm Central South Africa. In the same
year Nj CoryndOn obtained two specimens. one
Of which went to The British Museum Natural
History, and the other 10 Walter Rothschds
museum. at firing.
SAD TALE ABOUT ANTELOPES
There sad tale To ten ABOUT Inc duttl'P'S.
Cornvailis Harris hunted in South Africa late
in tho "thirties" and. describing the game on
"A tract near the Naal River. in the Orange Free
State. be- says: The number Of wild animals on
this sNampV flat almost realized fable. the roads
made by their inccssant tramp resembling so
many we'll travelled highways At every sep
meredith" herds Of bontebucks besbucks ana
SprIngbuCkS. with troops 81 snuS ana S'li"" "'H
OF the common or StripeiesS quaGSa, were per
forming their complicated evolutions' ana NOT
infreoueutly knot Of Ostriches. deckcd IN Ihen
4 H.. arf of fF4Tft al IL
and staff with such strict prOpriety as further
t. remind the spectator of a cavalry review.
The bl~sbuck is now so scarce that IL can De
hardly rcckoned beast Of chase; and MI Bry-
den saws that the scant remnants of the once
innumcrablc herds are living on few farms in
the Orange Free State and the Transvaal under
the care Of BOer farmers The experiment ~
an extremely interesting onc-and others Of the
same kind are being carried on. Mr.. Dryden
points out that within the next few years We
shall know whether this antelope is to be res
cucd from utter extinction, or is doomed 10 van
ish miserahly from the face Of the earth. The
bOutebuck u.s. pcrhaps worse off as regards
numbers. for there remains but a single herd.
living. strictly preserved. in the south OF cape
Colony The numbers If the springbuck have,
indeed. diminished. but il may still he said To be
fairly abundant in South Africa. thanks to the
protection afforded II in Cape Colony. the Or
angc Free state and the Transvaal
Whitc-taied rnus are rapidly reaching vanish
ing point though one writer on popular natural
history recently declared in print that they
wander about in herds of from eight or ten to
forty" and that hunters find out their lairs
and shoot them in order to eat their flesh. which
is dried and made into what the Beers call bill
tong Nevertheless. il is safer to accept the
account given Of this antelope by Mr. Dryden, |
that 1T IL probably extinct in "A wild condition
but preserved in the Orange Free State. where
some -iN or seven hundred head are living on
the lands Of Dutch farmers
The trur hHrtcbeest is practically cxtcrminated |
in the Orange Ere" state and in the Transvaal |
though 10 j. abundant in Bcchuanaland and il |
il from This hno antelope that the Chief Khama |
takes Ei. name The Gland, the largest and !