The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

4 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
small black bear ( Ursus malayanus) ; the clawless
otter [Lutra cinered) ; the bear - cat {ArcticHs
binturong) ; the scaly ant-eater [Mants javanicus) ;
the lemurs {Tarsius spectrum and Nycticebus tardigradus)
; the flying lemur (Galeopithecus volans) ;
the porcupine {Hystrix crassispinis)\ numerous bats,
squirrels, rats and mice ; the big shrew (Gymnurd) ;
several species of monkeys, and two of the anthropoid
apes. The last are of peculiar significance,
since they are incapable of crossing even narrow
channels of water, and must be regarded as products
of a very late stage of biological evolution. Of
these two anthropoid species, the gibbon [Hylobates
Millleri) is closely allied to species found in the
mainland and in Sumatra, while the maias or orangutan
(Simla satyrus) is found also in Sumatra and,
though not now surviving on the continent, must be
regarded as related to anthropoids whose fossil
remains have been discovered there.^
The zoological evidence thus indicates a recent
separation of Borneo and Sumatra from the continent,
and a still more recent separation between the two
^ islands.
[ The climate of the whole island is warm and
/ moist and very equable. The rainfall is copious at
1 ( all times of the year, but is rather heavier during the
\ prevalence of the north-east monsoon in the months
y j\ from October to February, and least during the
'
I months
of April and May. At Kuching, during the
/ last thirty years, the average yearly rainfall has been
\ 1 60 inches, the maximum 225, and the minimum
102 inches ; the maximum monthly fall recorded
was 69 inches, and the minimum '66, and the
greatest rainfall recorded in one day was 15 inches.
The temperature hardly, if ever, reaches 100" F. ;
it ranges normally between 70° and 90° F. ; the
^ Within Borneo the distribution of the maias seems to be largely determined
\ by his incapacity to cross a river, there being several instances in which he
occurs on the one but not on the other bank of a river.