PROGRESS AND CIVILIZATION 



beasts of prey mingling peacefully with their more 

 gentle brothers. AVherever the native is not a hunter 

 and the animals are not subjected to constant pursuit, 

 there exists a friendly relation between man and animal. 

 There many animals are as trusting and confiding as 

 with us the fully or half domesticated birds and quad- 

 rupeds — horses, swans, squirrels, and many others. 



The animal life of tropical Africa can be compared, 

 even at the present day, with that which once existed 

 in South Africa, though it hardly equals that of the 

 most southern part of the continent, which, once upon 

 a time, was a veritable paradise of animals. Reck- 

 less hunting has reduced considerably the number and 

 size of the herds of elephants, and the rinderpest (the 

 murrain), transplanted from Europe, has made terrible 

 inroads among the herds of buffaloes. And yet I have 

 found at certain seasons all kinds of animals massed 

 together, so that, with a stretch of imagination, I can 

 picture to myself the state of South Africa before the 

 influx of the white man. 



Would that I could but raise my voice loud enough 

 to reach all who might care, and have the power, to 

 save that great, rich, and beautiful domain of animal 

 life before it be too late! 



We should endeavor both to preserve the animal 

 treasures and to collect specimens of the still existing 

 species as long as we may, for our zoological gardens 

 and our museums of natural history, for the pleasure 



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