466 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



cine, possessing wonderful tonic and aphrodisiac properties. This is evidenced 

 by the almost fabulous prices they will pay for them. . . . Western pharma- 

 cologists may say there is no virtue or medicinal value in these horns, but 

 John Chinaman believes otherwise, and is willing to pay the price, high and 

 extortionate as it may be. 



The leg sinews of these Deer are also of considerable medicinal value and 

 are exported in quantity from the far west. Shed horns are valued for 

 making medicinal glue, used in mixing pills, etc. There is a large trade in 

 these, the annual exports from Tachienlu alone being estimated at 30,000 

 catties, valued at Tls. 8500. 



In every medicine shop of note, in every village and town throughout the 

 length and breadth of China, Deer horns are in evidence. In Szechuan and 

 other wealthy regions they are abundantly so. If one inquires in the east 

 and central parts of China where they come from, the answer received is 

 invariably Chungking and Yunnan. At Chungking it is always Yunnan and 

 Thibet. West of the Min River one begins to close up to the question 

 pretty quickly. Coolies laden with Deer horns are frequently met with 

 on all the roads leading from the far west of Szechuan. Tachienlu, Sungpan, 

 and other towns mentioned . . . are all trade entrepots, and are fed from 

 the surrounding country. 



The highlands of Thibet proper probably contribute to this trade, but the 

 headquarters is the wild, almost unknown, region lying between the Upper 

 Min River, the Chiench'ang Valley, and the frontier of eastern Thibet. This 

 is a region of high mountain ranges where virgin forests of great size still 

 remain. The upper limits of these forests are the home of these Deer. These 

 haunts are very difficult of access, and very few foreigners have had oppor- 

 tunity of shooting these Deer, consequently information is most meagre. 



Schafer (1937, pp. 143-212) describes an extremely difficult and 

 exhausting hunt for this deer in the mountains about Litang and 

 Batang, western Szechwan. It proved to be rare in the forested 

 country of Molachi south of Litang, where one animal was seen and 

 the tracks of a doe and a fawn were noted the latter followed by 

 a Wolf. The species is pursued by many native hunters, who are 

 considered chiefly responsible for its threatened extinction. Accord- 

 ing to the superstition of the Chinese and the Tibetans, the antlers 

 in the velvet have a rejuvenating power, and a set costs more than 

 two good riding horses. All bones and flesh are prized for their heal- 

 ing power, and the fresh blood and heart are consumed for courage- 

 giving qualities. In the vicinity of Batang Schafer finally secured 

 three specimens out of a small herd. 



Brooke Dolan, II (MS., 1938; cf. also Dolan, in G. M. Allen, 

 1939a, p. 282) contributes the following account: 



A more widely distributed animal than McNeill's deer, still occurring all 

 the way from the Tachienlu mountains westward into central Tibet and north- 

 ward probably to the grasslands around the Amnye Machen. They were seen 

 by us to the south of Litang, around Batang, and to the northwest of Jyekundo, 

 and tracks were found in the Tachienlu mountains. They have been, however, 

 so persecuted that the stand is down to nothing in many localities. Four or 

 five #ears ago they were said to be extremely plentiful around Batang, but a 

 brigade of Tibetan troops with British military rifles had so far reduced them 



