XIII. 



AN ORANG HUNT IN BORNEO. 



By Frank S. Bourns. 



Mr. William T. Hornaday, in his interesting book of travels, 

 ''Two Years in the Jungle," gives the habitat of the orang-outang 

 as Northern vSumatra and Borneo. As it is limited to a small 

 area in the former island, he considers Borneo the true home of 

 this great ape. Nor is it evenly distributed over Borneo. Mr. 

 Hornaday gives its range as the great plain of the west and 

 north ; but it is also quite abundant in the northeast and east, the 

 territory occupied by the British North Borneo company. 



Fairly well defined areas of this vast region however seem 

 to be avoided by the orang. For example, in Sarawak, where all 

 of the orangs now in the possession of the Minnesota Academy 

 of Natural Sciences were obtained, in the region between the 

 Sarawak and the Sadeng rivers, very few if any orangs can be 

 found. But in the adjacent territory between the Sadeng and the 

 Batang Lupar rivers, they are fairly abundant, while still farther 

 on to the northeast they again disappear or become very scarce, 

 the reason given being that the natives of this region use them 

 for food and thus -keep down the number. This practice is not 

 followed in the regions about the upper Sadeng, Simunjan, and 

 Lingga rivers. 



In .the region between the Sadeng and the Batang Lupar riv- 

 ers, the orang is probably more plentiful than in any other part of 

 Sarawak. The country is for the most part a huge swamp for 

 fifty miles back from the sea. A few ridges of high land run 

 down from the mountains towards the coast, and at intervals of 

 a few miles, isolated hills or groups of hills, rise from the swamp. 

 The water varies in depth from a few inches to several feet, be- 

 ing greater of course during the rainy season. For several miles 

 back the tide has a decided influence, backing the water up for 

 several feet and causing a reverse current in all the rivers and 

 streams. The whole region, both swamp and highands, is densely 

 wooded. 



