The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-04-21

that the ardent love of the chase which
is one Of civilized mans inheritanees
from his savage ancestors, and which is
eratihed often at much toll, expense
and danger, will in the end accomplish
the extinction of the large game, not
only in Africa, but of the world.
1t has been suggested that great Al
| fican national park, somewhat IKE our
own in Wyoming, be established, IN
which representatives of the species
now living might be confined and pre-
served No doubt if such tract, sufh-
! GENTLY large and varied, was secured
and properly policed, many beautiful
creatures would be retained long after
their unprotected wild relatives had dis
appeared. But the rules that governed
such a reservation would have to be OF
the strictest, and most faithfully en-
| forced. Yet even with such preserve,
| though it be the best that man could
devise, there would still remain quite a
number of animals that would be una
BILE to derive any advantage from such
an asylum.
Many African species are purely local,
that is, their distribution is restricted
to comparatively small tracts, and they
require especial conditions of climate,
food and soil In the great African
continent every variety of these deside-
rata are to be found, and so each species
thrives in it's own particular habitat,
and the great number of these habitats
accounts in measure for the great va
riety of the large game of Africa es-
pecially among the antelopes,
1 hi hot MY n
of country reserved as park would
contain a sufficient number of such hab-
itats, no matter how large it might be,
to supply all the species each one with
its own natural surroundings, and those
that were without one, unless they could
adapt themselves to more or less arti-
fetal existence, would as surely sue
cumb as will their relatives which are
left to carry on an increasingly unequal
warfare against modern weapons and
the skill and resourcefulness of the up
to-date white hunter. Yet a. national
park nevertheless primisea the surest
method of preserving the most species
for the longest time, and 1t is to be
hoped that one will be established by
the British government while vast
tracts of country can be obtained at
practically little cost.
The most easily accessible hunting
grounds in Africa to-day are In Abys-
sinia, western and southern Somaliland,
the countries lying along the Zambesi
and Chobi rivers, the Kilmanjaro coun-
try, and Masaliand, but in late years
the dreaded rhinderpest has passed
through this last-named territory, de-
stroying nearly all the bovines and re-
ducing what was once one of the finest
game sections in the world to little more
than desolate territory. Mashona is
or was until lately good game country,
and on the Pungwe river. not far from
the port of Beira, various kinds Of
game are very plentiful, but this Is
terribly infected fever district. In the !
Congo region there Is much game, and |
in the Gaboon district of West Africa /
the gorilla and chmpanzee are found, |
In the vicinity of Delagoa bay there is
still considerable game, but here also, |
as in the Gaboon and many other terri
tories, fever waits for the unacclimated |
In the interior of the continent there are
still vast tracts imperfeetly known or
entirely UNEMPLOYED, where doubtless /
much game roams unmolested, but |
those that are forest-cvered cannot be |
expected to harbor such endless varie- |
ties and mighty herds as have the
plains and open tracts In former days |
and which may yet he seen in few |
remote localities, Northern Africa con-
tains still quite a large amount of big
game, but nothing in comparison to the
other parts already named but along
the head waters of the Mile and in the
vicinity of the great lakes game is
abundant.-D. G, Elliot in the New York
Times.