GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MAMMALS 245 



and Europe in the early days. This is true of the rhinoce- 

 ros, now confined to Africa and similar regions. A hairy 

 rhinoceros once lived in Siberia and roamed the shores of 

 the Arctic Ocean, and many died on the New Siberian 

 Islands, which appear to have been a graveyard for mam- 

 moths. These animals had a wide distribution, but their 

 living representatives are found only in the restricted 

 regions of tropical India and Africa. 



No more interesting phase of the study of the geo- 

 graphical distribution of animals can be seen than that 

 expressed by the comparison of mammals of South Amer- 

 ica and Africa. They are totally different in nearly, if not 

 quite, all respects. Africa appears to be the home of the 

 negro, the black variety of the human race. Here he has 

 lived and died for centuries and eons, and where he is 

 found in South America or the United States he has been 

 carried as a slave. 



South America, about the equator, has very similar cli- 

 matic conditions, yet there are no negroes ; the races found 

 there are allied to the Indians of the so-called red race ; 

 and previous to the discovery of the continent by the 

 Spaniard, negroes were not known there. 



Africa is the home of the antelope, many kinds being 

 found, from the splendid eland down, the dark continent 

 seemingly being a paradise for big game. Here are the 

 giraffe, the black and white rhinoceros, the water buffalo, 

 the hippopotamus, and other large mammals, the African 

 lion, and many smaller cats ; in fact, Africa, of all regions 

 of the habitable world, appears to have been a most 

 favored locality for large wild animals of many kinds, 

 most of them peculiar to the country. South America 



