THE PROBLEM OF DOMESTICATION 259 



as many others may pass away. Our task with the refuges 

 would be to keep the death of the specific inhabitants to the 

 natural and wholesome rate that is determined by the endless 

 struggle for existence. 



It is impracticable at the present time to devise a scheme 

 for refuge stations in other countries than our own ; it is 

 evident, however, that these would have to be numerous and 

 widely distributed. A glance at a map showing the political 

 distribution of the lands will make it evident, however, that 

 within the holdings of the British, French, German, Dutch, 

 and Russian governments there are large areas which might, 

 without evident loss of considerable economic values, immedi- 

 ate or prospective, be turned to such uses, and that these 

 reservations would probably include nearly all that would 

 be required to preserve the most important samples of the 

 primitive life. Some of them, as for instance those intended 

 to retain the large tropical animals in their natural state, 

 would have to be as imperial in their areas as the Yellowstone 

 Park, but these would lie in realms which have no present value 

 to our own race and are scantily inhabited by the indigenous 

 peoples. 



It is easy to see that the proposed world-wide system of 

 wilderness stations in which the native life should be preserved 

 from the destructive influences of man's assault upon it could 

 not be brought about without international cooperation and 

 with a considerable expenditure of money both for the founda- 

 tion and maintenance of the establishments ; but, as before 

 remarked, the idea of public reservations of this nature is one 

 which immediately and strongly commended itself to the people 

 of this country and has led their representatives to set aside for 

 such use lands which in the aggregate amount to a larger area 



