Part 45

He goes on to describe the rush of life to fill up each gap--the struggle for existence--the crowding, crushing, and strangling--the death and disease.

“To complete the mental picture of this ruthless forest, the ground should be strewn thickly with half-formed humus of rotting twigs, leaves, branches; every few yards there should be a prostrate giant, a reeking compost of rotten fibres, and departed generations of insects, and colonies of ants, half veiled with masses of vines and shrouded by the leafage of a multitude of baby saplings, lengthy briars and calamus in many fathom lengths, and every mile or so there should be muddy streams, stagnant creeks, and shallow pools, green with duckweed, leaves of lotus and lilies, and a greasy green scum composed of millions of finite growths.”

Note 29: p. 126.--Appearance of Decay in the Forests.

A closely similar picture is given by Mr. E. N. Buxton in recounting a journey in the Rocky Mountains. He says: “This bane of pack-trains is caused by forest fires, which have burnt out the life of the trees, leaving only gaunt stems and blackened ground, followed by tempests which have whirled these tottering giants in heaps to the ground. In places the stems lie parallel to one another, and piled to the height of many feet as though they had been laid in sheaves. Elsewhere, while some have stood the shock and are still erect, their neighbours lie prone at every conceivable angle to one another, and their branches pierce the air as weathered snags. This ghastly waste, whether brought about by natural causes, or the recklessness of man, will have to be paid for some day, for are we not within measurable distance of the inevitable world-wide timber-famine” (E. N. Buxton, Short Stalks, 1893).

See also Rodway’s In the Guiana Forest (London, 1895), and article “Death in the Forest” (Natural Science, Sept., 1892).

Note 30: p. 129.--Taiga.

“A strip of Alpine region, 100-150 miles in breadth, consisting of separate mountain-chains whose peaks rise from 4800-6500 feet above sea-level, and beyond the limits of forest vegetation.” According to Radloff, the name taiga is also generally applied by the Kalmucks to wooded and rocky mountain-land.

Note 31: p. 135.--Extermination of the Beaver.

Mr. Martin, in his eulogy of the beaver (Castorologia, 1892), describes the rapid diminution of numbers in Canada, largely as the result of careless greed, but also through the spread of colonisation. He believes that by the end of the century, none will be found except in museums. Their rarity in Europe is well known.

Note 32: p. 136.--Export of skins.

Radloff notes, in 1884, that the yearly sale of furs at the Irbitsch fair amounts to between three and four millions of roubles.

Note 33: p. 144.--Velvet of antlers.

An account of the various ways in which pounded antlers and the vascular velvet were once used in medicine will be found in Prof. W. Marshall’s recent Arzenei-Kästlein, Leipzig, 1894.

Note 34: p. 147.--The Elk.

The elk (Alces machlis) is the largest of the land animals of Europe, and is the same as the “moose” of Canada.

Note 35: p. 150.--Rouble.

This varies from 3s. 8d. to 3s. 10d., but is usually reckoned as 4s. Of the kopeks, afterwards referred to, a hundred go to the rouble.

Note 36: p. 161.--Brick Tea.

Broken or powdered tea-leaves mixed with the blood of the sheep or ox, and formed into cakes. Other fragrant leaves are sometimes added.

Note 37: p. 165.--The Bear rearing her cubs.

I have been unable to find any corroboration of this story as to the she-bear employing her children of a former year as nurses.

THE STEPPES OF INNER AFRICA.

See--

Selous, F. C. Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa (1893).

Solymos, B. (B. E. Falkenberg). Desert Life: Recollections of an Expedition in the Soudan. London, 1880.

Foà, E. Mes grandes Chasses dans l’Afrique Centrale. Paris, 1895.

Lichtenstein, M. H. K. Reise im Südlichen Africa. Berlin, 1812.

G. Schweinfurth. The Heart of Africa.