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phants in order to make bedsteads and
trinkets with the tusks of ivory. The
killing of a few might have been
acceptable, but to exterminate them was
a crime against all future generations.
The story concerning the other vari–
eties of animals of North Africa is
equally distressing. Before the Roman
domioation, animals werc so abundant
in certain regions that meo found it dif–
ficult to work the land in peace and
security. But "civilization" began to
thin them out. There was nothing basi–
cally wroog with this, but how far do
you carry the
thinning?
When Rome built its amphitheatres
and brought in the gladiatorial shows,
they wanted animals - thousands of
them. These were easily found in North
Africa. The Emperor Augustus stated
with pride how he gave the people
3500 African animals to be killed for
their entertainment in twenty-six of his
Roman festivals.
The kiJliog of North African animals
was not a sporadic affair. They were
being rounded up and sent to the
amphitheaters, almost without inter–
ruption, from the last of the second
century
before
Christ until at least the
fifth century
after
Christ. The slaugh–
ter was enormous, and most of it was for
the entertainment of the masses. The
carnage wasn't stopped until every ele–
phant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and a
host of other animals (many varieties
known only to North Africa) dis–
appeared from that area forever -
killed off by the hand of man.
And the trees? No one really knows
how many varieties of trees grew there.
Sorne were "tall as the heavens," with
smooth glossy trunks without a knot to
be seen in their boughs. These giant
specimens made other trees in the rest