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Banks, E., 1937. Rum and rhinos. Sarawak Gazette 1937 August 2: 163-164

  details
 
Location: Asia - South East Asia - Borneo
Subject: Value - Related to Horn
Species: Asian Rhino Species


Original text on this topic:
Fifty years ago anyone, who shot a rhino was rather disappointed: he couldn't eat it all, it was too far to carry home, and the most that could be obtained from it was an occasional sword hilt made from the horn; these can still be obtained at a fabulous price. Nowadays, a rhino may fetch anything up to $300-$400, its horn being the most useful part, but the blood and the flesh also fetch a price, solely on account of the supposed aphrodisiacal properties appreciated by the Chinese. Even fifty years ago, the far interior, where the rhino lived, was too unsettled for prolonged travel by down-country people, and so, as the up-country people stayed at home, there was neither the supply of, nor the demand for, bits of rhino. With the advent of more peaceful times, the animals have become available and in great demand, until it is not too much to say that the rhino has been immolated to provide the Chinese with babies, the Dayak hunters with patent leather shoes and their girl friends with silk umbrellas.

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