Australia, India, or Africa. Other cases of similar remote affinities between the
productions of distant countries no doubt exist, but in no spot upon the globe that
I am yet acquainted with, do so many of them occur together, or do they form so
decided a feature in the natural history of the country.
The Mammalia of Celebes are very few in number, consisting of fourteen
terrestrial species and seven bats. Of the former no less than eleven are peculiar,
including two which there is reason to believe may have been recently carried
into other islands by man. Three species which have a tolerably wide range in
the Archipelago, are: (1) The curious Lemur, Tarsius spectrum, which is found
in all the islands as far westward as Malacca; (2) the common Malay Civet,
Viverra tangalunga, which has a still wider range; and (3) a Deer, which seems
to be the same as the Rusa hippelaphus of Java, and was probably introduced by
man at an early period.
The more characteristic species are as follow:
Cynopithecus nigrescens, a curious baboon-like monkey if not a true baboon,
which abounds all over Celebes, and is found nowhere else but in the one small
island of Batchian, into which it has probably been introduced accidentally. An
allied species is found in the Philippines, but in no other island of the
Archipelago is there anything resembling them. These creatures are about the
size of a spaniel, of a jet-black colour, and have the projecting dog-like muzzle
and overhanging brows of the baboons. They have large red callosities and a
short fleshy tail, scarcely an inch long and hardly visible. They go in large
bands, living chiefly in the trees, but often descending on the ground and
robbing gardens and orchards.
Anoa depressicornis, the Sapi-utan, or wild cow of the Malays, is an animal
which has been the cause of much controversy, as to whether it should be
classed as ox, buffalo, or antelope. It is smaller than any other wild cattle, and in
many respects seems to approach some of the ox-like antelopes of Africa. It is
found only in the mountains, and is said never to inhabit places where there are
deer. It is somewhat smaller than a small Highland cow, and has long straight
horns, which are ringed at the base and slope backwards over the neck.
The wild pig seems to be of a species peculiar to the island; but a much more
curious animal of this family is the Babirusa or Pig-deer; so named by the
Malays from its long and slender legs, and curved tusks resembling horns. This
extraordinary creature resembles a pig in general appearance, but it does not dig
with its snout, as it feeds on fallen fruits. The tusks of the lower jaw are very
long and sharp, but the upper ones instead of growing downwards in the usual
way are completely reversed, growing upwards out of bony sockets through the