in tha island of Sumatra. 373 



ed, as the tree was falling, to see him effect his retreat to ano- 

 ther, with apparently undiminished vigour. In fact, they were 

 obliged to cut down all the trees before they could drive him to 

 combat his enemies on the ground, against whom he still exhi- 

 bited surprising strength and agility, although he was at length 

 overpowered by numbers, and destroyed by the thrusts of spears, 

 and the blows of stones and other missiles. When nearly in a 

 dying state, he seized a spear, made of a supple wood, which 

 would have withstood the strength of the stoutest man, and shi- 

 vered it in pieces ; in the words of the narrator, he broke it as if it 

 had been a carrot. It is stated by those who aided in his death, 

 that the human-like expression of his countenance, and piteous 

 manner of placing his hands over his wounds, distressed, their 

 feelings, and almost made them question the nature of the act 

 they were committing. When dead, both natives and Euro- 

 peans contemplated his figure with amazement. His stature, at 

 the lowest computation, was upwards of six feet ; at the highest, 

 it was nearly eight ; but it will afterwards be seen that it was 

 probably about seven. 



In the following description, which I give in the words of 

 my informant, many of my readers will detect some of those 

 external conformations which distinguish the young eastern 

 orang outangs that have been seen in Europe. The only part 

 of the description in which the imagination seems to have injur- 

 ed the fidelity of the portrait, regards the prominence of the 

 nose and size of the eyes, neither of which are verified by the 

 integuments of the animal's head. " The animal was nearly 

 eight feet high, and had a well-proportioned body, with a fine 

 broad expanded chest and narrow waist. His head also was in 

 due proportion to his body ; the eyes were large, the nose pro- 

 minent, and the mouth much more capacious than the mouth of 

 a man. His chin was fringed from the extremity of one ear to 

 the other, with a beard that curled neatly on each side, and 

 formed altogther an ornamental rather than a frightful appen- 

 dage to his visage. His arms were very long, even in propor- 

 tion to his height, and in relation to the arms of men ; but his 

 legs were in some respects much shorter. Hi's organs of gene- 

 ration were not very conspicuous, and seemed to be small in 



JANUARY MARCH 1827. B b 



