242 THE GREAT BUSH REGION. 



The Waterless Districts of the Bush Region. The Kalahari Desert. 

 Stock Farms on Dry Plains. Succulent Qualities of the Bush. Oxen 

 and Thirst. Tree Vegetation Indicative of Water. Instances of Deeply 

 Penetrating Roots. Desert Pools Discovered by the Trails of Game. 

 Pasture Grasses in Waterless Districts. Their Nutritious Quality. 

 Australian Experiences. Cattle as Improvers of the Soil. Fat Game 

 in Waterless Districts. Animals which do not Require Water if 

 Herbage is Succulent. Water-loving Animals. Herds of Game Driven 

 by Thirst. Singing-Birds and Water. Flights of Birds towards Water. 

 Gordon Cuniming's Expedition Saved by Watching Them. Importance 

 to Travellers of Observing Habits of Birds, etc. Grasses Indicating 

 Absence of Water. Great Herds of Game and Scanty Vegetation. 

 Protective Colourings of Animals. Motionless Elephants. The Striped 

 Form of Protective Colourings. Sand Colourings. Albinism or Snow 

 Colourings. The Effects of the Colourings of Landscapes on Human 

 Inhabitants. Man's Attachment to the Land of His Birth. The Great 

 African Antelopes. Their Peculiarities of Build. Giraffes. Their 

 Resemblance to Ancient Trees. Antelopes and Deer. Immense Anti- 

 quity of some African Mammalia. Causes of the Extinction of Races. 

 The Mammoth and the Mastodon. "Geological Time." . The Fossil 

 Man. Vast Numbers of Extinct Forms of Life. The Huttonian 

 Theory. Antiquity of Plant Life. Of Insects, etc. Slowness of Changes 

 in Vegetation. 



WE next come to consider the second of the 

 terrestrial zones, into which Nature seems to 

 have divided the earth, which, for reasons we shall 

 proceed to point out, we have designated " The Great 

 Bush Country," or in other words, " The Jungle Region/ 

 It comprises two belts: one on each side of the equator, 

 located on the northern and southern boundaries of 

 the equatorial zone; which extend from the i5th to 

 the 25th parallels, of north and south latitude, respect- 

 ively. Each of these regions will therefore represent 

 a section of the earth's surface, 600 geographical miles 

 in width. 



The Great Bush Country, as its name denotes, is so 

 called because its prevailing feature is that of a dwarf 

 description of forest, consisting in great part of deci- 

 duous trees, which take the place of the heavy equa- 



