348 APPENDIX. 



day, with tlie species which are revealed by the bones dug out of 

 the earth of the caves, and which Leguat observed, that it is 

 possible to determine that, in less than two centuries, very con- 

 siderable changes have taken place in the composition of this 

 fauna, formerly so rich, and now so remarkably poor. The vege- 

 tation there has changed also its character, for the fine trees of 

 which Leguat speaks have for the most part given place to brush- 

 wood. But these modifications are not due either to a geological 

 catastrophe or to special meteorological phenomena, for the 

 climate has not varied. The local traditions attribute the destruc- 

 tion of the woods to great fires occasioned by human agency ; and 

 it is also human influence, either direct or indirect, which seems 

 to me to have brought about the extinction of the animal species 

 which I have described. 



" Leguat was one of the first who landed at Rodriguez ; the 

 aboriginal animals were then multiplying in peace : they as yet 

 had no enemies but the rats, whose introduction, due to sailors, 

 was probably recent ; and the birds were so little shy that they 

 let themselves be taken by the hand. Besides, the sailors of the 

 ships which put in to Rodriguez did not fail always to hunt them 

 down. In fact, the work of destruction commenced by the sailors, 

 and by the rodents, which our ships carried everywhere, was 

 completed, without doubt, when the Europeans established at 

 Rodriguez a small colony of ne.ijro slaves, meagrely supplied. 



" The climate of Rodriguez has not become unfavourable for the 

 propagation of animal species, since the domestic fowls, the 

 Guinea-fowls introduced by the colonists, breed well, and thrive 

 even in a wild state. 



" The disturbance due to the presence of man seems to have 

 sulSced to cause the disappearance from the surface of the globe 

 for the most part of the sedentary birds, to whom Rodriguez was 

 probably the last refuge. Elsewliere man has been the cause, 

 direct or indirect, of many other phenomena of the same order, 

 and the influence which he has exercised upon the geographical 

 distribution of animal species is more considerable than is gene- 

 rally supposed. 



" I have already had occasion to state how the islands of 



