SAVANNAS AND DESERTS. 



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CHAPTER III. 



SAVANNAS AND DESERTS OF THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



Water and Life — Characteristics of the Savannas. — The Llanos: The Dry Season — ^Effects 

 upon Vegetable Life — Effects upon Animal Life— Approach of the Rainy Season — Revival 

 of Vegetable and Animal Life — Vast Migrations of Animals. — The Pampas: Horses and 

 Cattle in the New World — Effects of their Introduction upon the Character of the Popu- 

 lation — The Mauritia Palm — Living in the Tree-tops. — The Grand Chaco — Its Indian 

 Inhabitants — The Guachos — The Lasso and Bolas. — The Plains of Southern Africa: Thorny 

 Bushes — Excessive Droughts — A Great Hunting Ground — Species of Game — Vegetation — 

 Watery Tubers — Esculent Gourds — Possibility of Wells — Water-Pits in the Kalahari — 

 Mode of Pumping Up the Water — ^Livingstone's Theory of Water-Making Ants — More 

 Probable Explanation — Inhabitants of Southern Africa. — The Lake Region of Equatorial 

 Africa: Little Known — Explorations of Livingstone and Burton — Speke's Journey — His 

 Notices of the Country — Moderate and Equable Temperature — The Inhabitants — Charac- 

 teristics of a Real Desert. — The Atacama of Peru : Its Arid Character — The Mule the Ship 

 of this Desert. — The Australian Desert: Its Utter. Desolation. — Sturt's Exploration — 

 Leichardt — Lost Rivers. — The Sahara: Extent and General Characteristics — The Capital 

 of Fezzan — Perilous Adventure of Barth — Plains and Hills — Oases — Luxuriant Vegetation 

 of the Oases — Contrasts of Light and Shade — The Khamsin or Simoom — Animals and 

 Reptiles — The Ostrich and its Chase — Fluctuations of Animal and Vegetable Life accord- 

 ing to the Seasons. 



THE presence or absence of water in the Tropical World exerts an influence upon 

 all forms of animal and vegetable life not less important than the temperature. 

 Wherever water is absolutely wanting the country is given over to barrenness. 

 Wherever water is perpetual and abundant, the soil is clothed with lofty forests and a 

 profusion of lush vegetation. Midway between these extremes are vast tracts dry at 

 one season and wet at another. These regions, which we may call savannas, embrace 

 the pampas of the Argentine Republic and the llanos of Venezuela and New Granada, 

 and a considerable portion of Southern Africa. They are in general to be character- 

 ized as vast plains, never of more than moderate elevation, covered with grass and 

 shrubs ; but, except on the banks of the rivers, destitute of extensive forests, the trees 

 standing singly or in small clumps. 



There can be no more striking contrast than that presented at different seasons of 

 the year by the great llanos of Venezuela. When the rainy season is over and the 

 sun for weeks blazes in an unclouded sky, pouring his vertical rays upon the thirsty 

 plains, the calcined grass-plains present the aspect of an interminable, monotonous 

 waste. Like the ocean they stretch out till in the distance hazy and quivering with 

 heat, their boundary blends upon the horizon with the sky in an indistinct line. The 

 water pools which nourished the scattered clumps of the Mauritia palm disappear one 

 by one. The tall, dry reeds which indicate the spot which had been a swamp, bear 



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