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Show i i I Animals of I Toprrs0,0cfc,:d by I Africa. EuXe.0 nniMnifailM !!! urn. " l (Special Letter) , Seven great European powers signed !n agreement tho olhir day, through jthclr diplomatic representatives guaranteeing protection for tho wild animals of Africa, some of tho most aluabla of which are threatened with , extinction, owing to reckless destruc- ' tlon by sportimcn and hunters for hides and Ivory Tho area thin narked out ai a vat gamo presertei extends from tho 20th parallel of north litttudo to ,th southern line of the Herman ikm-sewslous ikm-sewslous In tho Dark Continent nnd - from tho Atlantic ocean to the Indian I ocean and the Iteil sen Under the tcrmi of tho convention, tho hunting of giraffes, gorilla, chimpanzee, mountain zebras, brlmllcd gnua, clanda and tho little I.lbcrlan hippopotamus s, . la prohibited The young of tha ele- phant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, zebra, ze-bra, antelope and Ibex nro protected, ' and all elephants' tusks weighing lai than 20 pounds are to be confisc-itrd, Eggs of the ostrich, as well ns those of many other birds, come under tho provision of the agi cement, but thoso ' of tho crocodile nnd of poisonous (makes and pythons are to bo de-,-' ,. fctroyed, Ono of the animals to be protected by the convention Is the white nud square-mouthed rhinoceros, which Is i the largest of existing land nnlmala. ' excepting only the elephant. Appir- i cntly, this great beast never was very I common, being n local species, con- 1 fined originally to those parts of South Africa where they were to he found VS ' ' Ue open, grassy tracts necessary to ' its existence. It Ls now on tho verge of extinction, only n few Individual!. remaining alive. On the other hand, the black rhinoceros Is still very Tlin (1NU. I plentiful In many parts of tho Interior I of tho Dark Continent, and lis final ex termination is likely to ba postponed , for somo centuries, ( Th Ulrarr In lrr. The giraffe, unless protected, muit J,. succumb before very long, though still JSak"" I found In considerable numbers aver a LsHFfo. ' JsVS''rillit.nt,ot,cnuntryouth.i)f,Zorai PF ' calltles, and many small herds wander over parts of tho Kntaharl desert. I.llco the eland, It Is moat common whero water ls scarcest, nud doubtless It Is able to go for n long time without drink. The meat of tho beast Is particularly par-ticularly gooil to eat, nnd the natives, while bunting It on this account, find valuable uses for Its skin, making water wa-ter bottles and other things out of It. . The hldo Is an Inch and n half thick, ' nnd a rlflo bullet will not pierce It un less nt short range This Interesting crenturo Is tho tall-eit tall-eit of nil animals, somctlmea attaining a lilght of IS feet, so that It Is able to browsa on tho topmost branches of mimosa mi-mosa and nifticla trees. It Is tho solo aurvlvlng spectca representing n distinct dis-tinct family of rumlnnnts nnd stems to bo related to tho deer, the ox and the camel. Formerly It existed In En- ropo and Asia, where Its fossil bones nro occasionally dug up, but at tho iA i present tlmo Its range Is restricted to B the great plains of tho Interior of South Africa. Though ordinarily gen-m gen-m tie. It will fight fiercely on occasion, jfl and Its kick has been described ns tho fM second most powerful blow In nature, H the first being tho stroko uf a w halo's flj tall, and tho third the tap of n lion's 9 paw, Tho giraffe Is never known to illeat'i from roUoneri ltator, Mr, Jlazarakl, a member of one of the richest and best families In Austria, Aus-tria, has Just died of blood poisoning, brought about In n very extraordinary ,way. Several cases have already occurred oc-curred of contagious discuses communicated com-municated by a cut from n ruzor that tho barber had neglected to clean; but this Is tho first case of death Mr. Jdacarakl at first paid no attention to tho cut, but swelling and fever compelled com-pelled him to call In a surgeon, unfortunately unfor-tunately too late. The poison had entered en-tered his system, and ho died In a few utter a bound under any circumstances, even when wounded As a runner It Is famous, and only u good horse can overtake It Th. Il.n.l -rlr I lllnrl. The eland Is threatened with extinction ex-tinction largel) because of Its great site. It Is the biggest of atl the antelope, ante-lope, being almost as large ns a enw, and Is slow and clumsy compared with most of It congeners. Us flesh bring ery good to eat. It has been much hunted on that nrrount Already It Is exterminated In Cape Colony, Natal t the Orange Free Stain and the Trsnstaal. In the Kntaharl desert there are still a good many of tliene animals, and occasionally oc-casionally herds of them wander out of this doaotate retreat In rearrh of n certain Unci uf hush, the leea ot which thy nro very fond of In the desert n small wild melon containing a considerable quantity of water grows plentifully, and It Is supposed that this serves to nmuuge the thirst ot the eland and giraffes In the hot and dry season, Tha brindled gnu Is another largo antelope, and Is one of the most re-markab'e re-markab'e nnd Interesting q ladrupcds of Soith Africa, l'rom the front It looks somewhat like a small ox, nnd from tho rear like a horse Tho Hottentots Hot-tentots call It Haas, meaning master, on account ot Us bold and fierce bearing. bear-ing. It has a near relative railed the white-tailed guu, and both species formerly for-merly Inhabited In enormous mulll-tures mulll-tures the grassy plains north of tho Vaal river. After the summer rains each year they nritanrcd In large herds as far as the southern branches of tha Orange river, nnd on reaching that stream the white-tailed gnus would cross over Into Cape Colony, to be slaughtered In great niimhrra by hunters. hunt-ers. Kor somo reason unknown tho brindled gnu never passed tho river. The brindled gnu Is now extremely scarce In tho Trnnsvaal and practically practical-ly extinct In tho Orange l'rro Utile. It Is still met with In Dechuanaland, along the edge of tha Kalahari desert, and In some other localities. Owing to the open character of the country In which It Hcs. It Is one of the mest dlfflcult beasts to sttdk. It hus suffered suf-fered greatly from the cattle disease which, while causing such loia of domesticated do-mesticated beasts, has wiped nut Immense Im-mense numbers of game animals of many hinds In South Africa, Including Includ-ing giraffes and elands. Tho African elephant, though not yet on the vergo of extinction, can not long cscapo extermination unless protected pro-tected In some way. , Within tho past fow.jearaj.thpjranatid for, hory.hai greatiylluereaanljtaiiilttlteiasreekonxll that each twelvemonth 100,000 ot the giant pachyderms arc slain to supply tho market with this commodity. The African elephant grows a foot higher than tha Asiatic pachyderm At birth It weighs 2:5 pounds and Its nver-ago nver-ago length of Ufa Is SO years. A pair of tusks from a full-grown beast will weigh 225 pounds. I Icplmnt Mint llo l'rulecteil, There were formerly In South Africa thrco my Interesting animals related to the horse tho quaggn, the mountain moun-tain tcbra, and llurchcll's zebra. Only SO )car ago the quagga roamed In lm-memo lm-memo herds In tho lowlands cf Capo Colony. It was easily tamed and might hava furnished n domestic quadruped most useful to man; but It was ruthlessly ruth-lessly shot down und exterminated for tha eaka of Its hide, and now It Is be-llcvcd be-llcvcd that not n slnglo specimen Mir-vlves Mir-vlves In the world. The mountain zo-bra, zo-bra, formerly so abundant lu tho mountainous parts nf Capo Colony that It was called tha "common zebra," Is now very rare. The few survivors, protected by law from hunters, seek tho wildest and most sequestered spots, and, being fleet of toot, aro very dlfflcult to approach. llurchcll's zebra has been to somo extent domesticated, and Is used In coach teams. JM Till: QUAQQA. hours after tho operation It Is sup-posed sup-posed that tho razor had been used to shava n dead man before ho was laid out In the coffin, and that It had not been cleaned afterward. It appears that thcro Is no law to punish a man who thus causes the death of a fellow-creature, fellow-creature, and as thero aro no public Inquests In Austria, there Is no ofllolal Information oten as to the name ot the barber. Chicago News. . |