MAN AND HIS STRUCTURAL AFFINITIES. 437 



small, but not unlike those of man. The nose is quite flat, the mouth 

 is large and ugly, from the thick lips. The jaws are extremely power- 

 ful, and the canine teeth prominent. The breast is thinly haired, and 

 the face, the fingers, palms, and soles, are naked. The back and top 

 of the head are thickly haired, and on the side of the jaws the hair de- 



Fig. 5. Head op Orang-outang. 



scends like a beard. In color the hair is a dark, rusty red, sometimes 

 brownish on the back, the fringing hair of the face usually lighter than 

 the rest. The color of the skin is bluish-gray. The old males may be 

 distinguished by their longer beards, which are wanting in the young, 

 and by a peculiar swelling of the cheek from the eyes to the ears, which 

 makes their aspect more repulsive. 



The orang-outang was certainly known to the ancients, and Pliny 

 gives an account of this species which has been extensively copied. One 

 peculiarity, only recently observed, is that the skull undergoes a greater 

 change in shape than usual during growth. The heads of baby-orangs 

 bear a close resemblance to those of infants ; but afterward the lower 

 portion of the face increases rapidly in size, and the aspect of the adult 

 is more repulsive and animal-like than the chimpanzee. Wallace says 

 they frequent swampy localities in Sumatra and Borneo, and visit the 

 orchards of the Dyaks for the purpose of devouring the fruit. They 

 build nests in the trees, of boughs, in which they sleep. They climb 

 with great ease, and traverse the forest from tree to tree in a semi- 

 erect position, assisted by their long arms, and are capable of progress- 

 ing at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour without any appearance 

 of hurry or fatigue, going as fast as a man on the ground beneath them 

 can run. 



