The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 6, 1901, Page 7

G | P~ M‘m‘utuuww\w § dastb s v of the natural his- n na al hi: new work. Th ;: R. Lydekker, F. R. s. Sir Herbert F.Z ,F.Z.8.,a Z. S., who is 8.; ow, from m been obtained including Y Duchess of % of the Lora Delamere, ndian jun- many that ago, b e to pho- their tura ured the co~ photographers a sh the results o Pl I s f instance, has been two years in the aten tracks of East- e A fr . mpanied b two Eur abo two hundred na- tives g scores of snapshots. They ¥ ex ventures, one of road. The shikarri - yvered a magnifi- ! 4 a bush, glaring mera one b and pro- r. The lion with evid : i several photo- IS rely to rd thes n T " ptly decamped ¢ ¢ witd g £ article from pis h much Intcrest: C.V Jelous. etter half of the Eur e Cape of the lion's ar was Le heurd almes s of Table Mou 2y F. in the diary of Van ch Governor of the Cape, runs thus the lions roar y would take the fort by storm”'— d fort being situated the site of t new known as Cape Town. e city te there can be little doubt ng in the water! deserts and the dense equatorfal forests, lions med over the whole of the vast conti- £ Africa, from Cape Agulhas to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea; nor seriously curtatled was t ntil the spread of European settlements r range very in North and South Africa and the ac- quisition of firearms by the aboriginal inhabitants of many parts of the country, during the latter half of the nineteenth , stea denuded large areas of all wild game. As the game vanished the lions disap- peared, too; for, although at first they preved to a large extent on the domestic flocks and herds which gradually replaced the wild denizens of nature, otherwise would have become so numerous in the sparsely inhabited or altogether unin- habited parts of Africa that they would first have exterminated all the game on which they had been wont to prey and would then have had to starveor to have eaten one another. But such a state of things has never been known to occur; and whenever Euro- peans have entered a previously plgred and uninhabited tract of country in Africa, and have found it teeming with buffaloes. zebras and antelopes, they have always found lions in such districts very plentiful indeed, but never In such num bers ms to seriously diminish the abun- dance of the once uninhabited plains. This practice brought them into conflict with the white colonis native herdsmen, ns of precision, before whom they rapidiy succumb unex- s or Increase of Lions. To-day lNons ar 1 1o be found wher- ev me exists in any quantity, and their numbers wiil te in proportien to on which they indefinite increase checked b which of lions must me unknown law they depended for upon to understand that the in- herd of herbivorous animais e regulated mount of the pl ailable, as well as constant- ly checked by the attacks of the large ora, ch as lions, ledpards, chee- tahs, hyenas and wild dogs; but I have never been able to comprebend what has kept within bounds the Inordinate in-.. of lions and other caraivorous an!- in countries where for ages past ve had an abundant food supply, t the sa time, having been almost entirely unmolested by human beings, have had no enemies. Perhaps such a state of things does not exist at {he pres- but there many parts of here such conditions have existed from time immemorial up to within quite recent years. Since lions were once to be found over the greater portion of the vast cnminenli of Africa it i3 self evident that lhesei | | | animals are able to accommodate them- ves to great variations T climate and have met the hot and . on where | at an sititude of 6000 feet above sea level | th cr nights are cold and frosty: | among the stony hills to the cast of the | Victoria F: of the Zambesi, and fh the swamps of the Chobi. wir In the great reed beds of the latter river a certain number of llons appear to live v, preying on buffalos and lech antelopes. I often heard them | ing at night in these swamps and I saw two biz male lions wading an open space between two n water nearly a foot in Although there are great individual atficrences in licns as regards size, gen- e-al color of coat and, more particularly, in the length, color and profuseness of the mane with which the males are ALGERIAN LIGNESS — L sxoTo By 3zISER adorned, yet as these differences occur in every part of Africa where lions are met with, and since constant varieties, with one fixed type of mane, living by them- selves and not Interbreeding with other varieties, do not exist anywhere, modern zoclogists are, I think, now agreed that there is only one specles of lion, since THE SUNDAY CALL ILD ANIMALS FOLLOWE THEIR LAIRS bu THE CAMERA. in any large serles of wild lion ekins made in any particular district of Africa or Asia every gradation will be found between the finest maned specimens and those which are destitute of any mane at all. Several local races have, however, been recently described by German writers. In the hot and steaming coast lands of tropical Africa llons usually have short manes, and never, I believe, attain the long, silky bla: sometimes met with on the high plateaux of the interior. However, ‘there is, I believe, no part of Africa where all or even the majority of male lions carry heavy manes, the long manes TH ROFESSOR E. T. LAUGHTON has returned to his home in New York after spending the winter in ex- ploring the mountains near Buen: Colo., and investigating tke babits of a species of monster spiders found in the middle Cottonwood Pa Washington & Vista, , says the Little definite is known of these spiders, but around them has been gathered a mass of Indian legend and prospectors’ varns that rival those of Munchausen. Many years ago these spiders lived in a cave easily reached by tourists. It wasin a valley two miles northeast from Har- vard City, then a thriving mining camp eight miles west of Buena Vista. In 1850, & man named Shultz cut his way into the spiders’ den. He did not return, and a week later a searching party found his body partly buried in the spiders’ cave under a mass of fallen rock. As it would have required considerable timbering at an expense of several hundred dollars to recover the body, and as the man had no E MONSTROUS SPIDERS known relatives, it was left undisturbed. Shultz's skeleton is stillin the cave, but the spiders have found another home fur- ther back in the mountains. Some of the tales told about these epiders are given in an old letter which has just been found in Buena Vista. It says: “A short distance out of Buena Vista there is a cave swarming with spiders of jmmense size, some of them having legs four inches In length and bodles as large as that of a canary bird. The cave was discovered in 1868 and was often visited by pioneers on their way to California, who obtained their webs for use in the place of thread. “Early and late the cave resounds with 2 buzzing sound emitted by the spiders as they weave their webs. The webs were tested in 1871 and found to be composed of silk of the finest quality. The skins of the spiders make good gloves, as they are pliable and require no tanning. A number were captured and tamed, OF I COLORARO: and manifested great affection for .all members of the family. They were far superior to a cat in exterminating rats and mice, following their prey into the holes in the walls and cellings. One spider, kept as a pet by a Buena Vista lady, used to stay all night at the head of her bed acting as a sentinel.” The cultivation of coco, says a writer in the Scientific American, is at present an inviting agricultural pursuit in Trinidad and parts of Venezuela. The coco tree cannot withstand strong sunshine, and the young plants have to be shaded by banana or plaintain trees, and later, when they attain their growth, by tall trees known as “immortels,” or the “mother of the coco.” These make a kind of canopy over the entire plantation. The fruit of _the coco tree is a pod, resembling a cu- cumber, and growing on the trunk, or large branches, where it *‘looks as though it were artifically attached.”” The seeds are like large, thick Lima beans embed- ded in pulp. These form the coco beans of commerce. The processes of curing and drying require much attention. \ TO bair of which does not, as a rule, cover more than the meck and chest, with a tag of varying length and thickness extending from the back of the neck to between the shoulder-blad Lions with very full black manes, ering the whole shoulders, are rare where, but more likely to be encount on the high plateaux, where the winter nights are extremely cold, than anywhere In such cases, in addition to the of hair always found on the elbows and in the armpits of lions with fair-sized manes, there will be Jarge tufts of hair in each flank, just where the thighs join the belly. But I have never yet seen the skin of a lion shot within the last thirty years with the whole belly covered with long, thick hair, as may constantly be observed in lions kept in captivity in the menageries of Europe. There is, however, some evidence to show that when lions existed on the high plains of the Cape Colony- and the Orange River Colony, where the winter nights are much.colder than in the coun- tries farther north where lions may still be encountered, certain individuals of the epecles developed a growth of long hair all over the belly, as well as an extraor- dinary luxuriance of mane on the.neck and shoulders. From the foregoing remarks It will be seen that wild animals, having as a rule much Jess luxuriant manes than many ex- amples of their kind to be seen in Euro- pean menageries, are ordinarily not majestic and dignified in appearance as many of their caged relatives. On the other hand, the wild lion is a much more alert and active #himal than a men specimen, and when in good condition is far better built and more powerful look- ing, being free from all appearance of lankiness and weakness in the leg and having strons, well formed hind quarte: The eyes of the menagerie lion, too, look brown and usually sleepy,” while those of the wila and extra- ordinarily after death. When wounded and standing head held low between his shoulders, growling hoarsely and with twitching tail, even if he is not near enough to be ob- served very closely, a lion looks a very gavage and dangerous animal; but should he be wounded in such'a way as to admit of a near aporoach—perhaps by a shot that has paralyzed his hind quarters—h flaming eves will seem to throw out spark of living fire. Little Danger in Daytime. Speaking generally, there is little or no danger in meeting a lion or lions in the daytime. Even in parts of the country where firearms are unknown, and where the natives seldom or never interfere with them, these animals seem to have an In- stinctive fear of man, and even when en- countered at the carcass of an animal freshly killed, and at a time when they may be supposed to be hungry, they will almost invariably retreat before the un- welcome presence, sometimes slowly and sulkily, but in districts where much hunt- ing with firearms has been going on at a very rapid pace. However, I have known of two cases of Buropeans mounted on horseback having been attacked by lions in broad daylight, and Dr. Livingstone mentions a third. In one of the instances which came within my own knowledge a lion sprang at a Boer hunter as he was riding slowly along, carrying an elephant gun In his right hand and followed by a string of natives on foot. The lion attacked from the left side and with its right paw seized my friend from behind by the right side of his face and neck, inflicting deep gashes with its sharp claws, one of which cut right through his cheek and tore out one of his teeth. My friend was pulled from his horse, but clutching the loosely girthed saddle tightly with his knee, it was twist- ed round under the horse’s belly before he fell to the ground. Instead of follow- ing up its success the lion, probably scared by the shouting of the Kaffirs, trotted away for a short distance, and then turned and stood looking at the as- mounted huntef, who, never having lost his presence of mind, immediately shot it dead with his heavy old muzzle loading elephant gun, els so animal luminous, are yellow even at bay, with Besides these three iastances of Euro- ! ing been attacked in the day- time by lions I have wn of a certain number of n killed in broad day ts are, how- ever, by no mes every y occurrences, and, speaking genera it may be said lions in mall. am abroad with prey a;nd at , when hungry, T have known to enter a s of fires, to seize oxen and horses and human beings. During the year following the first oc- cupation of Mashonaland, in 189, a great t .the risk of molestation by a during the daylight is very by night t thy tim step they incredibly be them hunter’s camp, and, regardl d and darir upon sev: oceasic deal of damage was done by lions, which could not resist the attractions of the settlers’ livestock. For first few months I kept as accurate account as [ could of the number of horses, donkeys, oxen, goats and ‘pigs which were killed by lons, and it soon mounted up to over 200 head. During the same time several white men were also mauled by lions, and one unfortunate man named Teale was dragged from beneath the cart where he was sleeping by the side of a native driver and at once killed and eaten. Several of the horses were killed Inside rough shelters serving as stables. In the following vear (1891) over 100 pigs were killed in one night by a single Itone: These pigs were in 4 series of pens, separated one from another, but all under one low thatched roof. The lioness forced her way in between two poles and apparently was unable, after having satisfied her hunger, “o find her way out again, and, becoming angry and fright- wandered backward and forward through the pens, killing ost all the zs, each one with a bite at the back of thy head or neck. This lioness, which eaten portions of two young before dayligt Kille set night by the ow r of the Old Lions Like Human Diet. When lions grow old they always liable to becc Finding their ‘ailing them and being no longer gth a to hunt and pull down large ante- lopes or zebras, they are driven by hun- ger to killing small ich as porcupines and even or they may visit a native village and cateh a goat or kill a child or woman going for water; and, finding a hum easy animal to ch lion which has once ted human flesh wili, 1 probability, continue to be a til he is kille m 3 on subject, in his “Missionary Trav ' Dr. Livingston says: “A man- eater is invariably an old lion, and when he overcomes his fear of man so far as to come to the village for goats the peo- ple remark, ‘His teeth are worn; he will soon kill men.’ They at once acknowi- edge the necessity of instant action and turn out to kill him.” It is the prompt- ness with which measurcs are taken by the greater part of the natives of South- ern Africa to put an end to any lon which may take to eating men that pre- vents these animals, as a rule. from be- coming the formidable pests which man- eating figers appear to be in parts of India. But man-eating lions in Africa are not invariably old animals. One which killed thirty-seven human beings in 1857, om the Majili River, to the northwest of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesl, was, when at last killed, found to be an ani- mal in the prime of life, while the cele- brated man-eaters of the Tsavo River, in East Africa, were also apparently strong, healthy animals. These two man-eating lions caused such consternation among the Indian workers on the Uganda River Railway that the work of constructiom was considerably retarded, the helpless coolies refusing to remain any longer in a country where they were liable to be eaten any night by a man-eating lion. Both these lions were at last shot by one of the engineers on the railway (J. H. Patterson), but not before they had killed and devoured twenty-eight Indian coolies and an unknowu number of na: tive Africans.