Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra13141884roya).pdf/377

 afford capital sport, whilst on the East coast are found in addition the elephant and rhinoceros (R. sumatranus). Journeying up the rivers, many varieties of the monkey tribe are met with, including a small species of orang-utan. Small black bears (Helarctos euryspilus) are occasionally met with. The tapir and other have been seen on the North coast. A large variety of squirrels abound. Amongst the snakes are found the cobra, python, and leaf snake (Trimeresurus suhannulatus), but the writer has not known a single fatal case of snake-bite during a residence of six years in Borneo.

Crocodiles are numerous, and at times extremely fierce and dangerous. The rivers and coast teem with fish, which form the staple food of a large portion of the inhabitants.

Pigeons of many kinds, snipe, curlew and plover, the Argus and Bulwer pheasants (Argusianus Grayii and Lobiophasis Bulweri; ) and several kinds of partridge afford a tempting variety to the sportsman, and the field opened up to the naturalist amongst the numerous birds of North Borneo, is a large and but little known one.

The climate is more healthy than might be expected in a country situated so near the Equator. The maximum monthly mean temperature during the year 1883 was 88.9, whilst the lowest for the same period was 75.1. The nights as a rule arc very cool and pleasant, and on the coast the heat during the day is rarely oppressive. The rainfall for 1883, as observed at Kudat, on the North coast, was 120.56 inches, November, December and January being the months during which most rain fell. There is no absolutely dry season, it being rare to aass many days without rain. To Europeans who take reasonable precautions against exposure to malarial influences, the climate is healthy.