Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The hoofed animals are twenty-two in number, of which about seven extend into Burmah
and India. All the deer are of peculiar species, except two, which range from Malacca into
India. Of the cattle, one Indian species reaches Malacca, while the Bos sondiacus of Java
and Borneo is also found in Siam and Burmah. A goat-like animal is found in Sumatra
which has its representative in India; while the two-horned rhinoceros of Sumatra and the
single-horned species of Java, long supposed to be peculiar to these islands, are now both
ascertained to exist in Burmah, Pegu, and Moulmein. The elephant of Sumatra, Borneo, and
Malacca is now considered to be identical with that of Ceylon and India.
In all other groups of Mammalia the same general phenomena recur. A few species are
identical with those of India. A much larger number are closely allied or representative
forms; while there is always a small number of peculiar genera, consisting of animals unlike
those found in any other part of the world. There are about fifty bats, of which less than one-
fourth are Indian species; thirty-four Rodents (squirrels, rats, &c.), of which six or eight
only are Indian; and ten Insectivora, with one exception peculiar to the Malay region. The
squirrels are very abundant and characteristic, only two species out of twenty-five extending
into Siam and Burmah. The Tupaias are curious insect-eaters, which closely resemble squir-
rels, and are almost confined to the Malay islands, as are the small feather-tailed Ptilocerus
lowii of Borneo, and the curious long-snouted and naked-tailed Gymnurus rafflesii.
As the Malay peninsula is a part of the continent of Asia, the question of the former union
of the islands to the mainland will be best elucidated by studying the species which are
found in the former district, and also in some of the islands. Now, if we entirely leave out of
consideration the bats, which have the power of flight, there are still forty-eight species of
mammals common to the Malay peninsula and the three large islands. Among these are sev-
en Quadrumana (apes, monkeys, and lemurs), animals who pass their whole existence in
forests, who never swim, and who would be quite unable to traverse a single mile of sea;
nineteen Carnivora, some of which no doubt might cross by swimming, but we cannot sup-
pose so large a number to have passed in this way across a strait which, except at one point,
is from thirty to fifty miles wide; and five hoofed animals, including the Tapir, two species
of rhinoceros, and an elephant. Besides these there are thirteen Rodents and four Insect-
ivora, including a shrew-mouse and six squirrels, whose unaided passage over twenty miles
of sea is even more inconceivable than that of the larger animals.
But when we come to the cases of the same species inhabiting two of the more widely
separated islands, the difficulty is much increased. Borneo is distant nearly a hundred and
fifty miles from Biliton, which is about fifty miles from Banca, and this fifteen from Su-
matra, yet there are no less than thirty-six species of mammals common to Borneo and Su-
