194 MAMMALS. 



to avoid the strengtli of the current, and looking up to find what was moving near, saw a noble 

 tusked Elephant above him, with his proboscis stretched over the boat to pick fruit bej'ond. ' The 

 paddle dropped from my hand,' said he, ' life left me, but the canoe drifted back out of danger.' 



" "\^Tien we went round to look for that district we failed to find the entrance of the river, 

 so my personal knowledge of the Elephant is limited to noticing their traces on the beach, though 

 I have met dozens of men who have themselves seen these animals wandering in herds, and I 

 have often had their tusks brought to me for sale at Labuan and Sulu ; one I measured was six 

 feet two inches in length, including that portion which is set in the head, and this was purchased 

 by Mr. Scott, the Governor of Natal. 



"It is generally believed that above a hundred years ago the East India Company sent to the 

 Sultan of Sulu a present of some Elephants ; that the Sultan said these great creatures would 

 certainly eat up the whole produce of his Ultle island, and asked the donors to land them at Cape 

 Unsang, on the north-east coast of Borneo, where his people would take care of them. But it is 

 contrary to the nature of the Malay to take care of any animal that requires much trouble, so 

 the Elephants sought their own food in the woods, and soon became wild. Hundreds now wander 

 about and constantly break into the plantations, doing much damage ; but the natives sally out 

 with huge flaming torches, and drive the startled beasts back to the woods. 



" The ivorv of Bornean commerce is generally procured from the dead bodies foimd in the 

 forests, but there is now living a man who drives a profitable trade in fresh ivory. He sallies 

 out on dark nights with simply a waistcloth and a short sharp spear ; he crawls up to a herd of 

 Elephants, and selecting a large one drives his spear into the animal's belly. In a moment the 

 whole herd is on the move, frightened by the bellowing of their wounded companion, which rushes 

 to and fro, until the panic spreads, and they tear headlong through the jungle crushing before 

 them all the smaller vegetation. The hunter's peril at that moment is great, but fortune has 

 favoured him yet, as he has escaped being trampled to death. 



" In the morning he follows the traces of the herd, and carefully examining the soil, detects 

 the spots of blood that have fallen from the wounded Elephant. He often finds him so weakened 

 by loss of blood as to be luiable to keep up with the rest of the herd, and a new wound is soon 

 inflicted. Patiently pursuing this practice the hunter has secured many of those princes of the 

 forest."* 



I am afraid I am of a sceptical turn of mind, but I cannot help saj-ing before I begin to 

 test the real import of Mr. St. John's information, that I find this hunter's tale very indigestible. 

 This, however, is by the way, and it does not affect the fact of Elephants being there to operate 

 upon, that we doubt the truth of the modus operandi. 



Mr. Blytli doubts the possibility of the few individuals put ashore by the order of the Sultan 

 of Sulu, little more than a century ago, having increased to such an extent as to form the large 

 herds which are ><pokcii of as existing in the north-east Peninsula of Borneo. I beg the reader 

 to note, in passing, that these great herds are only spolicn of, nobody has seen them but the natives. 

 Mr. St. John no doubt says that he has seen " many tusks brought to Labuan for sale," but " many ^' 

 is a word of such diversity of acceptation that it conveys almost no information. Some men might 

 think a dozen many, others might think a ship-load few ; and I rather read " many tusks brought 

 1o Labuan for sale" as meaning "tusks brought at many times to Labuan for sale." But let me 

 not be hypercritical, — I only wish to put the di'ag on our imaginations to prevent us attaching a 



* St. John's " Lifo in the Forests uf the Far East,' ii. p. 224. Loudon, 1862. 



