73 



THE PULO CONDORE GROUP AND ITS MAMMALS. 



By C. Boden Kloss, f.z.s. 



The Pulo Condorei group lies about 45 miles from the coast 

 of Cochin-China on the edge of a 15-fathom bank stretching out 

 from the mainland. 



It consists of one comparatively large island, two of moderate 

 size and eight or ten small ones, and is fairly compact. 



Pulo Condore, the largest, is about nine miles long and two 

 to four in breadth : most of its surface is hilly and its summit is 

 1,954 ft. high. The eastern side is divided into two bays by a 

 rocky peninsula and in the southern and larger of the two is situat- 

 ed the settlement and convict establishment. This bay is protected 

 to some extent on the east by the island of Hon Bai Kan, the 

 second largest of the group, nearly three miles long and rising 

 1,076 feet. 



Rather smaller than Hon Bai Kan is Ban Vioung, or Little 

 Condore, 708 feet high, lying close to the south-west shore of the 

 main island where it creates a channel that offers fairly protected 

 anchorage. 



I have not yet landed on the group, but the following short 

 notes were made during a passage through the islands in March 

 1917, when my steamer anchored one evening for half an hoar in 

 the principal harbour : they are, therefore, merely impressions of 

 the east side and perhaps a visit would cause them to be consider- 

 ably amended. 



" We stopped in a semicircular bay open to the south-east, 

 with three or four islets in the mouth and larger ones to seaward. 



" The settlement is on a plain along the head of the bay 

 fronted by a sandy beach and backed by hills : few buildings were 

 visible from the ship. The Governor's hot-weather quarters are 



1 The Island of Gouids. (Pulo, poulo, pulau (Malay) = Island. 

 Condor, Condore, Kundur (Malay) = Gouid. 



I follow the spelling of the Admiralty charts. 



VOL. IV, NO. 2, 1920. 



