WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



hustle and bustle of our commercial cities, the noise 

 Emd stress and strife of our manufacturing towns, there 

 is being enacted, in our own days, a tragedy full of 

 pathos and unlike any other. Everything which blocks 

 the way of modern man on his relentless march of con- 

 quest is crushed without mercy, directly or indirectly. 

 The original inhabitants of entire continents, unless 

 they are capable of adapting themselves to our civiliza- 

 tion, are doomed to perish. With them is disappearing 

 the rich and beautiful fauna which has enabled them 

 to exist, and which now, often in the space of a few 

 years, is slaughtered and extirpated. 



At no other time, except, of course, during the periods 

 of universal terrestrial catastrophes, have numerous 

 species of animals, particularly those excelling in size 

 and strength, been totally destroyed. And the flora, 

 as a rule, suffers the same fate as the fauna. Primeval 

 forests are uprooted, or at least despoiled, and thick- 

 timbered lands are changed into treeless, desert steppes. 



Civilized man, displacing and replacing the aborigines, 

 brings with him animals from his own country which 

 supplant the indigenous fauna ; and with the introduc- 

 tion of new plants, including weeds, the flora, too, 

 changes its character or gives place to the foreign species. 



The outcome of this process is evident. Civilized 

 man will destroy all that appears to him harmful or 

 valueless, and will try to preserve only those animals 

 and plants which he deems useful or ornamental. The 



