2 Mr Grant's account of an Orang-Outang from Borneo. 



orang-outang in question to Calcutta. In July 1826 it had 

 been brought from Pontiana, island of Borneo, by some Bug- 

 gese traders. It was then considerably smaller than it is now, 

 and had all the appearance of being a very youthful animal ; 

 but no measurement of him was taken. I have not been able 

 to ascertain his age exactly, or any particulars regarding him 

 previous to his coming into Mr Montgomerie's possession ; but 

 since his capture by the Malays he has been for some twelve 

 or thirteen months accustomed to the society of mankind. 



Though not equal in stature to the orang-outang described 

 by my late lamented friend Dr Abel in his voyage from China, 

 yet the plate in that work will give a generally correct idea of 

 his portraiture. I have never seen Mr Swinton's orang in the 

 exact attitude represented in that plate, and the expression 

 of the face seems to me somewhat different. In Griffith's Ani- 

 mal Kingdom there is an engraving of an orang-outang by 

 Landseer,* in which the attitude and expression usually assum- 

 ed by the creature strike me as a very happy hit by the artist. 



Judging from the figure, the ears of Dr Abel's orang ap- 

 pear to have been larger than those of Mr S win ton's, and the 

 mouth, eyes, palms, and abdomen to have had a yellower tinge 

 than I perceive in the latter. Neither has Mr Swinton's orang 

 that double chin-like pendulous process described by Dr Abel, 

 and represented very prominently in his plate. When the 

 animal, however, exercises himself in climbing, two sacs appa- 

 rently filled with air become visible on the upper part of the 

 chest, one on each side, near the axilla. They are the same, I 

 presume, with those described by Camper as communicating 

 with the glottis in this animal. Can they be intended to give 

 a greater degree of buoyancy to the creature when springing 



* It appears to me that the expression of the eye in Dr Abel's plate gives 

 a more correct idea of the orang-outangs in general which have come under 

 my observation than the plate in Griffith's. In the former the organ seems 

 to be very happily depicted. In the work of the latter it is too round, and 

 wants the wrinkled appearance of the lower eyelid, which existed in all the 

 specimens which I have seen. The other parts of the face in Griffith's con- 

 vey a better idea of the animal, but the body appears a great deal too 

 meagre, and the abdomen particularly too hairy, of which part, however, 

 a very correct idea is conveyed in Abel's, The extremities are very ex- 

 actly represented in both. — Note by Mr Moiitgomerie. 



