On a Serow from Annam, 



By Dr. R. Haxitsch, 



Director, Baffles Museum, Singapore. 



(With two plates.) 



Two French gentlemen, Monsieur Louis Chochod and Mon- 

 sieur Gabriel Saint- Poulof, of Quinhon, Annam, presented last year 

 (191?) to the Battles Museum the skin and skeleton of a Goat- 

 Antelope or Serow, together with the photographs of the living 

 animal, careful measurements and an account of its capture and of 

 its behaviour in captivity. 



The animal had been picked up in the sea by native fishermen 

 on the morning of February 5th, 1917, off the peninsula of Phu'ong 

 Mai (lat. about 13° 30' X) in Annam, having apparently fallen 

 from the high cliffs there. Monsieur Toulouse, Commissioner of 

 Police, was the first to hear of it and informed M. Chochod and M. 

 Saint-Poulof of this strange occurrence. They hastened to the spot 

 and found the animal alive, tied to a tree and surrounded by gaping 

 Annamites. The animal was uninjured, but seemed much frightened 

 and pulled hard on the rope. It allowed itself to be touched and 

 to be caressed, though all the same its eyes were rolling for terror. 

 Once it pulled so hard that its feet slipped, causing it to fall heavily 

 to the ground. 



M. Saint-Poulof bought the animal from its captors, placed it 

 on a cart and took it to his house where he photographed it. It 

 continued to make desperate efforts to ^et free from the rope. It 

 drank readily, but refused to feed although it was offered leaves and 

 grass from the hills specially gathered for its benefit, and died 

 three days after. 



The natives knew nothing definite about the haunts and the 

 distribution of this animal. They said it lived in the mountains and 

 moved about at night time only ; they affirmed that it was rare and 

 that only woodcutters and charcoal burners occasionally met with it. 

 They regarded its flesh as edible, though it brought ill luck to those 

 who ate it. The horns were said to have wonderful medicinal 

 properties, and the Chinese apothecaries pay high prices for them 

 for treating nervous diseases. 



The Annamite name of the animal is "con de nui " which 

 really signifies " wild horse.'' The French of Indo-China, however, 

 call it " moufflon/ 5 and French sportsmen state that it occurs along 

 the coast of central Annam, on a small island opposite Tourane, 



Jour. Straits Branch R. A. goc, No. 78. 



