52 JOrnNAL, XATL'RAL TTLST. SOCIETY OF SIAM. Yd. I. 



Tieck situated in the inid-liue in front and about half way down. The 

 actual sore was round, al)out an inch and a half in diaaietei', and the 

 skin around it devoid of luiir, which had apparently been rubbed ofT 

 over an area about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide in adult animals, 

 the sore being in the middle of this bare patch. The sore seemed to bo 

 merely a superficial af?,^ction of the skin, and did not extend deeply, 

 or indeed penetrate the skin or affect the flesh at all, but it seemed to 

 be accompanied by considerable itching. The hair round the sore 

 aj)peared to be worn off by rubbing to allay the iri-itation. Animals 

 of all ages and both sexes suffered from this sore. 



Mr, A. J. Irwin, of the Survey Department, has also observed 

 the same affection in Sambar shot by him in the present year, and 

 lias given me the following information. 



The disease is callerl " Khi rue)i kwang" or " the lepros}" of tho 

 Sambar" by the Siamese, and the " Ma-kawk season sore" Iw the 

 Kariangs. A Siamese hunter who has lived for years on the edge 

 of the jungle, and has killed many Sambar, considered it a disease 

 to which Sambar were subject permanentl}', being born with it, 

 and he was much sur})rised to hear that they did not suffer from 

 it everywhere. An old Kariang informed him that the Sambar 

 suffered from it onh* during the " Ma-kawk " season, when even 

 the yoimg in the womb boi'e the mai-k, and not during the rest 

 of the year. The ]Ma-kawk tree is a kind of wild plum tree, bear- 

 ing fruit having a sovu-ish sweet taste. It is generallj' called in 

 English the "' Wild Olive," but the fruit is about three times the 

 size of a large olive, and the taste is different. The fruit ripens, 

 according to the class of jungle and country, at flifferent times through 

 the dry season. Deer are very fond of this fruit. The Kariang gave 

 Mr. Irwin the following legendary account of the origin of tiie sore. 

 Plira Sian (Buddha) gave the Sambar the fruit of the Ma-kawk tree 

 to eat. The Sambar tasted '\l, and then refused it, saying it was sour. 

 Plira Sian s.-iid, "Very well, then the Ma-kawk fruit shall not bo 

 considered food for the Sambar." Afterwards the Sambar ;tgaiii 

 Tasted tlie fruit, and finding it sweet on this occasion, came to JMira 

 Sian and begged pu-mission to eat it in future. l*iuM Sian granted per- 

 mission, l)ut as a punishment for fickleness condemned all Sambar to 

 suffer from the sore on the neck during the Ma-kawk season. 



I have shot Sambar further south than the district referred to, 

 in the .Ma-kawk season, and so has Mr. Irwin, and neither of us 

 has noticed any sore on the animals there. It does not seem to 

 affect the Sambar in the Pitsanulok jungles, or in the Siamese 

 portion of the Malay l^eninsulo, where I have also shot Sambar, and 

 where the Ma-kawk fruit is eaten by them. Wliere thej' suffer 

 from the disease, the animals may be only affected during the Ma- 

 kawk season, but I do not think that eating that fruit causes the 

 sore. The district in which I have noticed them suffering from it, 

 is one abounding in mineral springs, called '" Pong Nam " in Siamese. 

 Anim.ds fiecpient these to drink tlie water. This water may possibly 

 cause the sore in Sambar. but not in other animal-, li will be inter- 



