Pygathrix nemaeus, (Linnaeus 1771) (Linnaeus, 1771)

Brandon-Jones, Douglas, 2024, The scientific discovery and subsequent history of the douc monkey Pygathrix nemaeus (Linnaeus, 1771) near Da Nang, Vietnam, Mammalia (Warsaw, Poland) 88 (4), pp. 353-361 : 354-355

3 The type locality of the douc

Pierre Poivre (1719 – 1786) of Lyon, first visited east Asia in 1740 as a missionary, aged 20. Too young for holy orders, his youth was thought advantageous for language acquisition. Poivre was expelled from the Cochinchina mission and subsequently pressed to leave Canton (now Guangzhou ), China, but claimed that on his homeward voyage the amputation of his right forearm during a sea battle with the English on 25 January 1745 forced him to abandon ordination. He was temporarily imprisoned at Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia), so he improbably then had the holotype. The French East India Company accepted his proposal to open trade with Cochinchina and in June 1749, Poivre reached Pondicherry in India, where he was equipped and sent on, arriving at Haiphong harbour (near Hanoi, Vietnam) in August 1749. He left Cochinchina for Mauritius only six months later to realize his other objective of establishing spice plantations in the French colonies. In June 1750 he sailed for Canton and, after several months, on to the Philippines, reaching Manila in May 1751. Other than nutmeg, he failed to obtain spice plants, and arrived at Pondicherry in April 1753, and Mauritius in December. He sailed for Manila in May 1754, and for the Spice Islands (now the Maluku Islands, Indonesia) in January 1755, returning to Mauritius in June 1755. Departing in April 1756, he spent several months until September in Madagascar, was captured by the English in December , and released in April 1757. Deepening factions within the Company isolated Poivre and he retired to Lyon, aged 37. He remained in France until early 1767 ( Maverick 1941), so he apparently collected the holotype in late 1749 or early 1750.

Haiphong is well beyond the geographic distribution of the douc ( Fooden 1996, Figure 1h; Kirkpatrick 1998; Nadler et al. 2003), but Poivre ’ s journal recorded his arrival at Tourane (now Da Nang) on 29 August 1749 and sailing to Faifo (now Hoi An) on 1 September. He remained mostly onboard until 15 September when the ship returned to Tourane and fully disembarked. On 18 September he set off for Hue (the then capital of Cochinchina), crossing three mountains, including a tall, steep, rocky one (probably Mt Hai) whose extensive forests were teeming with diverse, interesting animals. He arrived at Hue on 22 September, in reputedly the rainiest year known. Poivre left Hue on 13 December, taking 7 h on 15 December to cross the “ montagne de Haï ” ( Cordier 1887: 452), on which hunting and habitat disturbance were forbidden, for fear of offending the spirits. He arrived at Faifo on 17 December, returning on 21 December to Tourane, from where a two-hour canoe journey on 22 December to the foot of Mt Hai saved him a long day ’ s hard travel. Here he learnt that a boat hired to follow him from Hue had been deliberately wrecked with some of his possessions lost or stolen. He apprehended the skipper and took him to Hue on 25 December. On 13 January 1750, he set off for Faifo, descending by river all night, and sleeping at the foot of Mt Hai. Crossing the mountain on 15 January, he reached a cove overlooking Tourane bay, spent 16 January at Tourane, and then reembarked for Faifo. In the middle of the river were three or four massive white marble rocks appearing on maps as the “ Sera de Bougio ” (bugio is a Portuguese word for monkey) or “ montagne des Singes ” ( Cordier 1887: 490) (now Ngu Hanh Son or Marble Mountains, not the modern-day Monkey Mountain), and renowned throughout Cochinchina for their extraordinary shape, with naturally formed paths, caves and small shelters. Then separated from the sea by a large sand flat, they seemed formerly marine, harboured monkey multitudes, and were covered with small shrubs whose roots entangled numerous large rock masses. Poivre reached Faifo at dawn on 17 January. On 4 February he moved to Tourane, sailing on 13 February 1750, after three days of adverse wind. Poivre himself therefore seems to have had little opportunity to collect the holotype, but on 23 November a mandarin warned him of the fateful consequences of Poivre ’ s crew hunting with guns in consecrated mountains on days of prohibition ( Cordier 1887). The incompleteness of the holotype skin, preserved only with mandible and foot bones ( Daubenton 1766: 302), indicates that a crew member shot it for meat near Tourane, while awaiting Poivre ’ s return.