Question

1That large animals require 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 false, and it has vitiated the reasoning of geologists on some points of great interests in the ancient history of the world. The prejudice has been probably derived from India and the Indian islands where troops of elephants, noble forests and the impenetrable jungles are associated together in every one’s mind. If however we refer to any work of travels through the southern parts of Africa, we shall find allusions in almost every page either to the desert character of the country or to the numbers of the large animals inhabiting it. The same thing is rendered evident by the many engravings which have been published of various parts of the interior.
10 Dr Andrew Smith, who has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic of Capricorn, informs me that, taking into consideration the whole of 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 with these exceptions, the traveller may pass for days together through open plains, covered by poor scanty vegetation. Now if we look to the animals inhabiting these wide plains, we shall find their numbers extraordinarily great, and their bulk immense. We must enumerate the elephants, three species of rhinos, the hippos, the giraffe, the zebras ,gnus and several antelopes even larger than these latter animals. It may be supposed that although the species are numerous, the individuals of each kind are few. By the kindness of Dr Smith, I am enabled to show that the case is very different. He informs me that in lat 24’, in one day’s 20 march with the bullock wagons, he saw without wandering to any great distance on either side, between 100 and 150 rhinos-the same day he saw several herds of giraffe amounting together to nearly a hundred. At a distance of a little more than one hour’s march from their place of encampment on the previous night, his party actually killed at one spot eight hippos and saw many more. In this same river there were likewise crocodiles. Of course, it was a case quite extraordinary, to see so many great animals crowded together, but it evidently proves that they must exist in great numbers. Dr Smith describes the country passed through that day, as being thinly covered with grass and bushes about 4 feet high and still more thinly with mimosa trees.
Besides these large animals, everyone the least acquainted with the natural history of the 30Cape has read of the herd of antelopes, which can be compared only with the flocks of migratory birds. The numbers indeed of the lions, panthers and hyena and the multitude of birds of prey plainly speak of the abundance of the smaller quadrupeds: one evening seven lions were counted at the same time prowling around Dr Smiths encampments. As this able naturalist remarked to me, the carnage each day in Southern Africa must indeed be terrific.
I confess it is truly surprising how such a number of animals can find support in a country producing so little food. The larger quadrupeds no doubt roam over wide tracts in search of it.; and their food chiefly consists of under wood which probably contains much nutriment in a small bulk. Dr Smith also informs me that the vegetation has a rapid growth; no sooner is a part consumed, than its place is supplied by a fresh stock. There can be no doubt however 40that our ideas respecting the apparent amount of food necessary for the support large quadrupeds are much exaggerated.
The belief that where large quadrupeds exist, the vegetation must necessarily be luxuriant is far from true. Mr Burchell observed that when entering Brazil, the splendour of the South American vegetation struck him more forcibly contrasted with South Africa together with the absence of large quadrupeds. In his Travels , he has suggested that the comparison of the different weights (if there were sufficient data) of an equal number of the largest herbivorous quadrupeds of each country would be extremely curious. If we take on one side the African elephants, hippos, rhinos, giraffe etc and on the American side the tapirs, guanaco, deer, vicuna, peccari and the monkeys and place them alongside each other it is easy to conceive ranks that are so disproportionate to each other in size. Considering these facts it can be concluded that there is no close relation between the bulk of the species and the quantity of 49vegetation in the countries they inhabit.

Answer 1

Explanation:

Hari had been so tired and weak and anxious that first night that he had not really been aware of the place in which he found himself. He only saw it for the first time when he woke up the next morning

Answer 2

Answer:

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