392 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Mjoberg (1930, pp. 17-19) gives the following account for Borneo: 



He lives in the most inaccessible tracts, which are free, as a rule, from all 

 human visitors. . . . 



Near the upper springs of the River Boh, in Central Borneo, we one day 

 . . . came upon no less than four specimens. [Three of these fled but one 

 attacked the procession of bearers. The meeting with a party of four was 

 very exceptional.] 



The nomad tribes that wander through the central districts of Borneo are 

 very keen rhinoceros-hunters. The Punans follow his trail without a sound 

 and blow poisoned darts at his more vulnerable points. They may follow 

 one and the same animal for weeks without giving up the pursuit, until they 

 have secured a suitable opportunity to use their blow-pipe. . . . 



It is chiefly the horns that are highly prized for trading purposes. They 

 are sold for several hundred shillings apiece to the Chinese from the districts 

 round the coast, who use them for the preparation of a medicine in great 

 request ... as a cure for ailments of every description. 



The fate of the rhinoceros family should soon be sealed in Borneo, for 

 every year a very large number of them are killed simply for the sake of 

 their horns. At the twelfth hour the Sarawak Government acting on the 

 author's initiative has introduced certain restrictions on rhinoceros-hunting, 

 but they are not strictly enough enforced. ... It is of course true that 

 the rhinoceros is also to be found in Dutch Borneo, but apparently not in 

 such numbers as in highly favoured Sarawak. . . . 



The hunting of the rhinoceros ought to be entirely forbidden for humani- 

 tarian reasons. It is a perfectly harmless creature, that does not do any 

 mischief. . . . The rhinoceros stands badly in need of protection to enable 

 it to survive in modern conditions. 



Banks (1931, pp. 19-20) writes concerning the Bornean animal: 



[It occurs] in the mountainous region in the Lawas interior, various places 

 in the far interior of the Baram and Rejang Rivers, occasionally straying as 

 far down as the Ulus of Mukah and Oya but is not found on the left bank 

 of the Rejang or down into Saribas and Sarawak proper. . . . 



Now there can at the moment be no fear of Rhinoceros becoming scarce 

 for as many as 36 trophies were brought into Belaga in two years not so long 

 ago and I have met men who have claimed to have shot over 30 in the course 

 of their life time, but it must be evident that such a slow breeding animal 

 cannot stand destruction for long at this rate .... 



Reserves so successfully made in other countries are impossible to enforce 

 here. 



Heynsius-Viruly and Van Heurn (1936, pp. 47-48) contribute the 

 following: 



Reports from Borneo are hardly more favorable [than from Sumatra]. 

 We are told that in West Koetai rhinoceros are quite scarce and confined 

 to remote and inaccessible spots. The area it occupies is said to be large, 

 but the numbers few and steadily decreasing, once more due to hunting. 



In some subdivisions their survival is seriously threatened, while they are 

 already extinct in Martapoera. They occur nowadays mainly north of the 

 Mahakam River, where they extend high up into the mountains. . . . 



R. sumatrensis is also reported from Boentok and Apau-Kajan; and is said 

 to be fairly numerous in the highlands near the boundary of British North 

 Borneo, outside inhabited districts, as well as at the headwaters of the Malinau 

 and Toeboe. 



