That large animals require a luxuriant vegetation, has been a
general assumption which has passed from one work to another; but I do
not hesitate to say that it is completely true, and that it has vitiated the 【M1】_________
reasoning of geologists on some points of great interest in the ancient
history of the world. The prejudice has been probably derived in India, 【M2】_________
and the Indian islands, which troops of elephants, noble forests, and 【M3】_________
impenetrable jungles, are associated together in every one’s mind. If,
therefore, we refer to any work of travels through the southern parts of 【M4】_________
Africa, we shall find illusions in almost every page either to the desert 【M5】_________
character of the country, nor to the numbers of large animals inhabiting 【M6】_________
it. The same thing is rendered evident by the many engravings which
have been published of various parts of the interior.
Dr. Andrew Smith, who has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic
of Capricorn, informs me that, taken into consideration the whole of 【M7】_________
the southern part of Africa, there can be no doubt of its being a sterile
country. On the southern coasts there are some fine forests, but without 【M8】_________
these exceptions, the traveler may pass for days together through open
plains, covered by a poor and scanty vegetation. Now, if we look to the
animals inhabiting this wide plains, we shall find their numbers 【M9】_________
extraordinarily great, and their bulk immense. We must enumerate the
elephant, three species of rhinoceros, the giraffe, two zebras, two
gnus, and several antelopes even larger than these latter animals. It may
be supposed that although the species are numerous, but the individuals 【M10】________
of each kind are few.
【M6】
nor—or
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