24 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



65 



which is a small brook and at this season nearly dry, with steep mountains 

 or hills on all sides. 



.My traps I placed not far from the river, which at this dry season should 

 be as good as any place. Nearly everywhere the shore is planted with cocoa- 

 nuts and oftentimes clearings are made on the hill slopes, but inland the 

 original forest remains unmolested, though it is not open forest like that of 

 eastern Borneo. There is much underbrush, composed principally of a 

 variety of almost worthless rattan. 



Thus far I have collected specimens of Babirusa [a pig with peculiar erect 

 tusks curved backward above forehead at extremities], two females with 



Fig. 23. — Two attitudes of Pangolin. Length of animal : head and body, 26 

 inches ; tail, 22 inches. Mahakam River, Borneo. Photograph by Raven. 



skins and some fine skulls of males. Also a peculiar black pig with hard 

 cartilaginous conical nodules on its nose and hard jowel patches; a marsupial 

 and two species of squirrels. I have also seen a reddish squirrel running on 

 the ground, but have not gotten one; also I have seen a small carnivore. Of 

 rats I have six or seven species, and possibly there are more. I have also 

 some bats. The ants do not seem to destroy as many rats here as in Borneo ; 

 this will prove a great advantage in collecting. 



According to natives, Sapi-utan [a dwarf buffalo peculiar to Celebes] and 

 Rusa [deer] in certain localities are abundant, though I have yet seen none. 

 The natives also say there are many wild water-buffalo which have escaped 

 from captivity years ago. 



Reptiles appear to be common and the miners at Paleleh killed a python 

 which they say measured 10 meters. 



