Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-22

IN ing, there will he no large animals left
ssasszS on earth within one hundred years
SsGED They will all have fallen victims TO the
march Of civilization and its conse
LLuences' Some of the big brutes that fiourished
lure man, and later before the civilization Of
''"' nave been vanishing ever since the begin
s or the century. And, as is the case of the
$50 aux a marked tribute is being paid to the
memory OF the mighty departed, in this partic.
al ~ Instance by offering fabulous price for even
'ue remnants Of egqshe
since tourists commercial adventurers and an.
tnusiastic explorers have taken To going in oll
iections, wonderful changes have been taking
pace III the animal world. until it takes but A
ei,nce 10 see that earths big brutes are doomed
ne real savage killed game of necessity. and
~ mas neen said that, at the same time he did
- plcturesquely using the bow and the arrow.
instead of the cowardly rife that invaded the
stiffness with its loud vulgar "bang!" and spoil.
ing the beauty of the landscape with its pres.
ence. ' P'e'
ny the' efforts of the savage the big brutes
oouiu not appreciably diminish. The great herds
y, oiSoh that roamed in shaggy pride over the
Pidins once as shaggy as themselves, began to
disappear only when civilization commenced
n'nlding cities along their course and humanity
oegun staring out upon them, and confnng them
marked improvements in firearms and the fabu
lous prices of fur robes in all the markets, about
inc only traces that are left of the immense
nerds are the bones and skulls that strew the
prairies and the remains of their "wallows" and
favorite feeding places
Then, too, so many of the smaller fur-bearinp
animals are being driven away from their native
haunts! Back to where the hardy pine trees
are dwarfed by the Arctic cold, that the once
turp ,f LII,
to be entirely dependent upon its land sales
1t VIII he sorry day for the rowing Eskimo
when the seals are completely thinned down
Already this hardy tribe of people are threaten
ed with starvation if they continue to depend
upon this particular species of sea food for their
subsistence For specially constructed steamers
are following up the seals so closely that they
are leaving the almost inaccessible coasts of
East Greenland. where they used to swarm and
the Arctic ice foes, for the inland ice, and still
their pursuers are close upon their trail
POLAR BEARS DISAPPEARANCE.
OF course, the Polar bear comes in for his
share of this great loss. But his doom is sealed
in any case. With his neighbor, the Eskimo
1t Is different. 1t is up to the dusky brother
to fall in with the march, and step by step lift
himself up to where he, too, may become part
of this monopolistic control that is being exer
cised.
Out in the Transvaal, that paradise of sport
the gold-crades rocking in the wallows where
the mighty denizens of the forest used to roam
And, the professional hunters inroads are given
over to the gold-seekers. For mile by mile the
elephant has been driven northward beyond the
Iambesi, until he is headed back by the
Portuguese and the Arabs from Mozambique
and Zanzibar only to get entangled among the
settlements on Lake Nyassa, were the bulky
creature, shy and modest by nature, falls
ready prey to the ivory hunter, to whose door is
laid the killing of the geese that lay the golden
eggs, to such an extent has the ivory trade been
carried.
CULTIVATING THE ELEPHANT
What shall substitute in place of ivory for
the backs of har-brushes and the handsome
handles of our precious dinner knives? is the
question heard all sides. Is there vegetable
growth that will do as well for these purposes
The United States has done WE'LL it is be-
lieved, to undertake the .dising of elephants
right here in this country And soon as it
stated that elephant farm was being
started in Southern California, everyone familiar
with the conditions indorsed the project. So
many species of animals right the verge
of determination. that before they are allowed
to disappear entirely let them be represented in
our museums or looked after in our geological
gardens to which sportsmen we'll natural
lists both agree
The moose, the caribou the prong-horned an
telope, and the great grizzly bear, along with the
other great beasts which appreciably dmin-
ishng do not seem so much part of the living
art of nature as the dainty humming bird the
stately bird of paradise, and numerous other gay
little warbers whose lives a part of the very
civilization we ourselves belong to. But cviliza- |
ton is sweeping away the living beauty as well
as its opposite. Creating fora and a new
fauna of mans selection which will prevail over
the whole land surface of the globe, within one
hundred years And there is no use, so the sci |
entists themselves tell us, of laying this to the
carelessness of the naturalists of the middle or
nineteenth century, as there is a tendency for
doing, for there were no protective measures to
be resorted to.
Luckily, specimens of almost every species are
preserved in our museums, where references may
be looked up when needed. But the inevitable
march of civilization and progress will on, on!
and there is no blame to be attached anywhere,
for the fact that earths large animals are doom
ed and as fast as can be, they are being swept
away So, too, are the cormorant with its
pretty white rings round its eyes, and brilliant
lustre of green and purple plumage the great
white water-hen, and the whitewinged sand
piper which Captain Cook found so abundant
when he came upon the island of Tahiti.
Neither have the duck family escaped For all
along the North Atlantic coast of America, the
determination of these birds is to be noted show
ing that the inhabitants have fallen victims to
civilization and Is consequences.