New-York tribune., 1901-07-07

Africa and the Mountains Of the Moon. just
published. presents Il picture of great game in
extraordinary numbers. existing in "A state of
nature, IN the sense in which the French en-
cyclopsedists, criticised by NJ. lie Roi in his
'LettreS sur les AnimauX.' endeaVorcd to depict
them This state OF nature only mean the
conditions in which animals live when they are
only in society with each other and has
not Yet appeared on the scene. Hitherto such
SlllnpSeS into solely animal communities have
been very rare. because man is a creatur" Of
such world wide distribution that the animals
seldom have a chance of undivided occupation.
on the penguin reefs OF Patagonia and the ant
arctic islands. where the birds mistooll the men
for seals and made OF inland to avoid them. and
in SIitZbergen and Franz Joseph Land reindeer,
bears, birds and seals when first discovered by
explorers were living under absolutely natural
conditions. and in great numbers. one OF the
most active and formidable cf tn carnivora.
the Ice bear" Waged constant war upon ali
alike Yet bears birds. seals, deer and wal
ruses all increased and multiplied dinghy.
sc that the Morse shippers who broke into their
arctic preserves loaded their vessels from heel
to bulwarks with the sDos and made their
fortunes in 4 few voyages. on tn. plains north
of the Albert Edward Nyanza the conditions
We're different. for man, though present had as
serted absolutely no dominion over The beasts.
The natives were not ahstai1eTS from flesh by
choice. like the honey eating tribes further cast
cr non-huntirg vegetable feeders ON the. con
tTary. when the white men shot antelope they
were eager 10 deVOur il raw, and fell on il like
pack of hYcnas. But il had never occurred Ia
iHtIh tIdt tncN might XII large animal with
weapons. or even To dig pitfalls for them. The
result was that the plains were swarmng with
great game which had absolutely 10 fear Of
man, and the balance of nature existed uudis-
turhed. The caravan marched through herds OF
game 50 tame that the travellers could walk
among the animals and look at them Buffalo
hartfeeSt, cobus antelope and many others were
seen in an directions. There some water
ana abundance Of dry grass. But the plains
"tf~ Shadeiess and arid in most places. condi-
uoES "nIch do not seem hostile to d great ac-
Of al
Africa or in the far south Of America
NATURE CARRIES JUST ENOUGH STOCK
Mr. Moore says nothing; Of lions on these great
game plains; but can scarcely conclude that
the beasts 1--we there unVeXed by natural enc
mes o! any kind. But ii cannot be doubted
that this IS an Instance in which animals show
that If protected unmoIested bv man they
are always capable Of maintaining a number
probably only limited by the food production Of
the ground they haunt We seldom hear o.
wholesale loss of life from famine among wild
fumIhaht animals. such takes place on the
sheep runs of Australia when a drouth last.
for an unusual time. Man overpopulates IN.
Land with the animals he protects as he de-
nudes il of others. Nature keeps up lust The
stock which the ground will carry But il j,
feildfkaDIe that this should hold good in places
WEefc the destroying carniVOra are present
equally with those in which they are nor On
the Athi plains FOR instance on the Irg,r,.
ItdilNdA, mons swarm; yet the game when IN,
line was first ma H. seemed as numerous nc or
the Albert Nyanza flats This is the more
lDrt4
&ll ales and Nlldebcest only produce ono or a
h'Sl paIr OF young in "A year " WhIc = Homes
may ana often does, have four cubs in a ii,t.r
10y ordinary rules the lions ought in time to- ~,
ceed the number Of their prey There ara =,
dhlhsil infant insurance companies To r,Jt 9.
premium on cub mortality among lions ana nI
other creature, except possibly the sDotted br1t
ing doSS, dare touch the cubs of the Iioneee
Whlie hunting dogs, hyenas leopards servaI.
ana Jackals are all on the watch for the caIv4.
OF ahtelopeS ana zebra foals. Yet as the Ions
even IN these most lion haunted plains do ,,nt
increase fast enough to Kill off the ntba,
game, we must suppose that there is q .,rca
inoftalty among the wild Cubs In confluence,
the death rate is extraordinarily high p,oh
abIy, also the lioness is bad mother and nurse
sir Harry Johnston believes that the sI,rviva
| OF such an archaic form the newly dscov.
cred okapl in the Semiiki forest is due Ia tht
absence there OF large carniVora, as well as +,
the infrequent visits of men. But il is wei
known that great forests do not as a rule hold
much life, and that where there is little food
| large carniVora are always scarce. The absence
| of lions and leopards from the great Congo for
estS has not promoted animal life there in any
degree A minor difficulty, which apparently is
not real difficulty in this extraordinary gather
ing OF animals, is the relation of the eaten tc
| mon and the deaths and devouring of their feI-
lows constantly before their eyes the animals