Through Central Borneo An Account Of Two Years' Travel In The Land Of The Head-Hunters Between The Years 1913 And 1917 By Carl Lumholtz
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It Is A Fortunate Fact That
These Extremely Efficient Weapons, Which Noiselessly Bring Down Birds And
Monkeys From Great Heights, Are Not Widely Distributed Over The Globe.
If
one is hit by the dart which is used when destined for man or big game,
and which has a triangular point, it is said that no remedy will avail.
Rajimin, the taxidermist, had frequent attacks of malaria with high fever,
but fortunately he usually recovered rapidly. One day I found him skinning
birds with his pulse registering one hundred and twenty-five beats a
minute. I engaged a Murung to assist in making my zoological collections,
and he learned to skin well and carefully, though slowly. Judging from the
number of long-nosed monkeys brought in, they must be numerous here. These
animals are at times met in droves of a hundred or more passing from
branch to branch through the woods. When old they cannot climb. One
morning this Dayak returned with three wah-wahs, and related that after
the mother had been shot and had fallen from the tree, the father seized
the young one and tried to escape, but they were both killed by the same
charge.
On account of adverse weather conditions most of the skins here spoiled,
in some degree at least, in spite of all efforts, especially the fleshy
noses of the long-nosed monkeys. A special brand of taxidermist's soap
from London, which contained several substitutes for arsenic and claimed
to be equally efficient, may have been at fault in part, though not
entirely, the main cause being the moist heat and the almost entire lack
of motility in the air.
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