2124 Zoology of the 



all directioDs. Their ivory compensates well for the injury they have inflicted on the 

 crops and cultivated ground. This animal is not fierce, and will seldom attack a man 

 unless fired at, when it proves, as well may be imagined, a formidable antagonist. 



The rhinoceros is also a native of Sumatra, where his horn is esteemed a powerful 

 antidote against poison. A small and hardy horse, the obstinate, dull, capricious, but 

 patient buffalo, the cow, the sheep, the common goat, the goat of the wood (resembling 

 a gazelle), the Chinese hog, the hippopotamos, the bear, the dog, the cat, the otter, the 

 sloth, the porcupine, the armadillo (very rare), a prodigious variety of monkeys, deer 

 (some of them of an enormous size), squirrels and bats, constitute the other members 

 of the animal kingdom of this great island, if we add an infinite multitude of birds and 

 creeping things. Among the former is the famous Sumatran or Argos pheasant, 

 called by the natives the ' coo-ow.' It is a bird of the most rich plumage, though not 

 distinguished by gaudy hues. It has never been brought alive to Europe, as no one 

 has ever succeeded in domesticating it: one month's deprivation of liberty will kill 

 it. It loves the shady recesses of its native forests, having a great antipathy to light ; 

 and when sitting in its own quiet retreats, the Argos pheasant will make the wood 

 echo with the plaintive ' coo-ow ' from which it takes its Sumatran name. 



Game-cocks are so universal in Sumatra, that no persons possessing any pretension 

 to respectability, and even those who possess none, keep them. Fathers have been com- 

 monly known to stake their children, husbands their wives, sons their mothers and 

 sisters, and all their property besides, on the issue of a battle. Dreadful quarrels, 

 ending in assassinations, are often the pernicious consequences. Quails, and a small 

 bird resembling the magpie, are often trained up in the same manner as fighting-cocks. 

 The latter endeavour to seize each other by the tongue. 



The Malayan tapir, found also in Sumatra, resembles in appearance partly a hog 

 and partly a small elephant. It is a quiet creature, very docile, and easily domesti- 

 cated. It was first discovered to exist in Sumatra by Sir Stamford Raffles, who says, 

 in one of his letters, that searching inquiries convinced him that there lived in the 

 woods of that island an animal of the tapir species, with a narrow riband of white 

 around the belly and back. 



The catalogue of zoological specimens, each distinct and of a different species or 

 class of animals, which Sir Stamford Raffles collected in Java and Sumatra, would 

 occupy many pages, and would not perhaps be interesting to the general reader. 

 We therefore pass it by, and, taking a flying leap to the little islands of Talang Ta- 

 lang, observe the peculiarities of the turtle, so abundant in all parts of the Indian 

 Archipelago. A broad sandy beach, admirably adapted for the purpose, attracts the 

 turtles, and there they deposit their eggs. From the middle of June to the middle of 

 July, it has been computed that forty thousand eggs are laid there nightly ; that is, 

 two hundred turtles each deposit two hundred eggs. 



On a little hill near the shore of the larger island is erected a large dwelling-house, 

 surrounded by a stockade, and furthermore guarded by two formidable pieces of artil- 

 lery. Here reside forty men, whose sole business it is to collect the eggs, which they 

 sell at the surrounding markets with good profit. 



The turtle comes about sunset out of the water, and, after wandering for some 

 time on the beach, buries its nose in the ground, and commences scooping the sand 

 with its hinder feet in a most deliberate and easy manner, often pausing to rest. 

 When a hole of the depth of three or mpre feet has been made, the turtle takes its sta- 

 tion over it, and lays the eggs at intervals for a long time. It then fills up the empty 



