Grote, A., 1875. Memoir of Edward Blyth. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 44 (2) Extra: i-xxiv
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Asia - South Asia - Bangladesh |
| Subject: |
Distribution |
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Sumatran Rhino |
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A.Grote, biography Blyth
[x] Blyth made a short tour in the Provinces in July, 1856. He spent some six weeks in Lucknow, Cawnpore, Allahabad, and Benares. Oude had just been annexed, and the sale of the Royal Menagerie at Lucknow had been determined on. The tigers were the finest caged specimens in the world, and to one who understood their value in the European market, the inducement to buy and ship the animals was irresistible. A German friend joined in the speculation, and found the necessary funds. Blyth was to do the rest, and as no competitors offered, he bought the bulk of the collection for a trifle. Eighteen magnificent tigers were sold at 20 rupees (£2) a head! Some casualties occurred on the passage down the river; but his collection, when exhibited in Calcutta, contained sixteen tigers, one leopard, one bear, two cheetas, three caracals, two rhinoceroses, and a giraffe, which carried a saddle and was daily ridden. Difficulties unfortunately occurred in finding ships for the transport of the animals, and their detention in Calcutta caused further casualties and heavy charges, which his partner would not face. The speculation collapsed, but one of the tigers which reached England realized £140.
[xv] The interest which Blyth had always taken in the Rhinoceros group was revived by the safe arrival at the Zoological Gardens of the Chittagong individual, the Ceratorhinus crossei of the present Catalogue. In his paper contributed to the 'Annals' in 1872, he argues against Gray's assignment of this species to Rhinoceros sumatrensis, and in favour of its identity with the fine Tavoy specimen shot by Col. Fytche, and figured in this Journal, vol. xxxi. p. 156. Blyth’s conjecture that the Arakan Hills is one of the habitats of this species is borne out by the letter in which Capt. Lewin, the superintendent of the Hill Tracts of Chittagong, first reported to me in 1867 the capture of the animal.[other dates incorrect] After giving her measurements, which were then 6 feet from crown of head to root of tail, and 4 feet 2 inches in height, and otherwise minutely describing her horns, Capt. Lewin adds: "You are mistaken I think in supposing that she has come from the Tenasserim Provinces —the two-horned species is found in my hills. I have seen one alive, and several of my men have seen a dead one."
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Memoir of Edward Blyth
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