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



what I have myself seen of the polity observed among mon- 

 keys. In a word, the Malays, like the other Indians, rank the 

 orang-outang among the last class of the human species, and 

 pretend that in a state of liberty they freely propagate with ours,* 

 and add, this mixture is fruitful. I confess I find nothing im- 

 probable in this selection of hearsays, not even in the opinion, 

 which, founded upon certain characteristic resemblances of con- 

 sanguinity, perceives the last order of the human species in 

 these at least doubtful beings. 



Almost all the eastern orangs seen in Europe came, I believe, 

 from Borneo, and were of the average height of two feet and a 

 half, or three feet. The orang-outang described by Edwards, 

 on authority not stated, is called young, and its height was 

 about two feet and a-half. In the plate of it there is no trace 

 of a paunch or protuberance of abdomen. The expression of 

 the face, too, is different from that of any orang I have seen, 

 and the colouring is by far too yellow. Edwards quotes the 

 account of a voyage to Borneo, taken by a Captain Bateman in 

 1718, in which was figured and described an orang, said to 

 have had no hair save on those parts where it grows on human 

 bodies. If the account is to be depended upon, this is certain- 

 ly making a marvellously near approach to the human species. On 

 a point where no motive for deception is very apparent, we have 

 hardly a right to question the veracity of Captain Bateman ; 

 but no other observer that I am aware of has been so.fortunate 

 as to see an unhairy orang-outang. 



The orang described by Voesmaer came from the eastward, 

 and its height was two Rhenish feet and a-half, or about thirty- 

 one inches. 



The instances I have referred to strike me as being in fa- 

 vour of Shaw's*)- remark, that the orang appears to admit of 

 considerable variety in point of colour, size, and proportions, 

 and that there is reason to believe that there may be two or 



* Note. — There is a story current in Calcutta which may as well be men- 

 tioned, of a woman belonging to one of the dependencies of theSultan of Pon- 

 tiana, (Borneo,) who ran away on account of some fault she had committed, 

 and lived for several years with the orang-outangs. It is added that they 

 treated her very kindly, but were very watchful lest she should escape. 



| Shaw's General Zoology. 



