ORDER PERISSODACTYLA I ODD-TOED UNGULATES 391 



species should exceed one kilogram. So we may suppose that during the 

 last ten years an average of forty rhinoceroses yearly were sacrificed to 

 the superstition of the Chinese, for, of course, there can be no question of any 

 curative action of the horn. With the new regulations both species of rhi- 

 noceroses will be protected and also the export of their horns will be forbidden, 

 so we hope to be in time to save these remarkable animals from total 

 destruction. 



According to the statistics given by Dammerman (1929, pp. 

 90-91), 49 kilos of rhinoceros horns were exported from the Nether- 

 lands Indies in 1919, 70 in 1920, 38 in 1921, 68 in 1922, 39 in 1923, 

 24 in 1924, 16 in 1925, 22 in 1926, and 26 in 1927. These figures 

 indicate unmistakably an increasing scarcity of the animals. 



J. Gourin (in litt., August 7, 1933) speaks of sumatrensis as 

 pretty rare. Formerly "we had them near Boeloe Telang, and I 

 believe there is still a couple living on Lepan." 



Heynsius-Viruly and Van Heurn (1936, pp. 43-44) give the fol- 

 lowing information : 



Otto's hunting descriptions [1903] are of particular interest to the Nether- 

 lands Committee because they relate to that part of Langkat lying along the 

 Upper Lepan River, a district set apart long ago as a forest reserve and 

 which connects, along the boundary of Langkat and Atlas, with the recently 

 proclaimed game reserve. All rhinoceros shot by Otto belonged to the two- 

 horned species. . . . There is ... much chance that both species will be 

 found in the newly established game reserve. . . . 



The Netherlands Committee for International Nature Protection formerly 

 described how the Natives [in northern Sumatra! hunt rhinoceros by means 

 of a spear-trap. 



Mjoberg writes (1930, p. 18) : "In Sumatra, so it is said, the 

 Battas creep up so close to the rhinoceros as to be able to cut the 

 sinews of its back legs with a sharp knife." 



"Rhinoceroses are close to extinction in northern Sumatra, al- 

 though a few are supposed to remain in remote parts of the Wilhel- 

 mina Range. A 'pawong' or native chieftain told us that the animals 

 once were very numerous on the plateau at Blangbeke. . . . The 

 pawong and his men hunted the rhinos here twenty years ago, using 

 both guns and dead-falls over the rhino trails. . . . The pawong 

 personally had captured 24 rhinos with these spike traps. . . . The 

 pawong used to obtain 250 rupees (guilders) for a catty (1.36 Ibs.) of 

 powdered horn." (Ulmer, in Miller, 1942, pp. 161-162.) 



Borneo. "The Rhinoceros ... is still extant, but it seems to be 

 confined to the mountainous regions in- the far interior of the island, 

 and I do not suppose that more than half a dozen specimens have 

 been sent to European museums" (Shelford, 1916, p. 42) . 



To the foregoing statement, H. N. Ridley adds in a footnote that 

 sumatrensis is common in British North Borneo, and that he passed 

 four in one trip. 



