Bovalet, G. Through the Heart of Asia (trans. by C. B. Pitman, 2 vols, London, 1889).
Jackson, F. G. The Great Frozen Land, cited above.
[Note 16] p. 91.—Flora of the steppe.
According to Seebohm (op. cit.), “The cause of the treeless condition of the steppes or prairies has given rise to much controversy. My own experience in Siberia convinced me that the forests were rocky, and the steppes covered with a deep layer of loose earth, and I came to the conclusion that on the rocky ground the roots of the trees were able to establish themselves firmly, so as to defy the strongest gales, which tore them up when they were planted in loose soil. Other travellers have formed other opinions. Some suppose that the prairies were once covered with trees, which have been gradually destroyed by fires. Others suggest that the earth on the treeless plains contains too much salt or too little organic matter to be favourable to the growth of trees. No one, so far as I know, has suggested a climatic explanation of the circumstances. Want of drainage may produce a swamp, and the deficiency of rainfall may cause a desert, both conditions being fatal to forest growth, but no one can mistake either of these treeless districts for a steppe or a prairie.” See also for general description of steppe vegetation Kerner’s Plant Life and Wiesner’s Biologic der Pflanzen.
[Note 17] p. 97.—The Quagga.
The true quagga (Equus quagga), intermediate between zebras and asses, is no longer known to exist, though it was described by Sir Cornwallis Harris in 1839 as occurring in immense herds. The name quagga is given by the Boers to Burchell’s zebra (Equus burchelli).
The same sad fact of approaching extermination must be noted in regard to not a few noble animals, e.g. rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and giraffe.
Selous writes in 1893: “To the best of my belief, the great white or square-mouthed rhinoceros (Rhinoceros simus), the largest of modern terrestrial mammals after the elephant, will, in the course of the next few years, become absolutely extinct. Yet, twenty years ago, it was a common animal over an enormous extent of country in Central South Africa.
“Never again will the traveller be able to stand upon his wagon-box, and, like Burchell, Andrew Smith, Cornwallis Harris, and Gordon Cumming, scan plains literally darkened by thousands upon thousands of wildebeests, quaggas, Burchell’s zebras, blesboks, hartebeests, and spring-boks.”
[Note 18] p. 97.—The Buffalo.