396 Capt. P. J. Begbie on the Natural History 



attributed to tbe timidity of tbe natives, who prefer the certainty 

 of the gun to the hazard of a struggle in which they might be 

 overcome by strength and number. 



P. Satyrus, Desm. (synonyms : Simia satyruSj Linn. ; Pongo 

 Wurmbii, Desm.), generally known as the great Orang-Outang*. 



The canine teeth in this species project somewhat more than 

 they do in mankind, and the tubercles on the molars are consi- 

 derably more developed. The head is rounded, but more inclining 

 to the oval than in the Chimpanse ; the facial angle is about 65°. 

 Like the last, it has no tail, cheek-pouches, nor callosities on the 

 buttocks. The ears, except in being destitute of the lower lobe, 

 resemble those of man. The arms are disproportionably long; 

 so much so, that when the animal is erect, it can touch the 

 ground with its hands. 



Mr. Stark t, in treating of this animal, has the following pas- 

 sage : — " The history of this animal, confounded with relations 

 of other species, has hitherto been involved in much obscurity. 

 The animal described by naturalists under the name of S. satyrus, 

 specimens of which have occasionally been seen in Europe, and 

 the Pongo of Wurmb, seem only, as Cuvier conjectured, to be 

 the young of the gigantic animal described and partly figured by 

 Dr. Clarke Abel. From the measurement of the shrivelled and 

 dried skin, that gentleman makes its height to exceed seven feet 

 and a half, though the youth of the animal was ascertained by 

 the state of its teeth, and by the apophysis of the bones of its 

 hands and feet being incompletely ossified." 



After this opinion of two eminent naturalists, it may appear to 

 savour somewhat of presumption to come to a different conclu- 

 sion ; but I offer with diffidence the following grounds on which 

 I conceive the Pongo of Wurmb, or the third variety of the Simia 

 Satyrus of Linnaeus, to be, as there classed, distinct from the 

 great Orang Utan. 



The fur of the great Orang Utan is brownish red — that of the 

 Pongo of the Malayan peninsula is a very pale nankeen. The 

 beard of the former is chestnut — that of the latter nearly white. 

 The hair of the head of the Orang Utan is reddish brown — that 

 of the Pongo is of the same pale colour as the body. But the 

 principal fact on which I rest is the height. It is supposed by 

 these authors that the Pongo of three feet high is but the young 

 Orang Utan. Now the Pongo in my possession was killed with 

 a young one in her arms, which she was suckling, — a decisive 

 proof of maturity, and yet she is barely three feet high. I have 

 seen several others, some smaller, but none taller than this. 



* Corrupted from the Malayese : Orang, a man, and Utan, wild, from 

 the resemblance to a human being, 

 t Stark's Elements of Natural History, vol, i. p. 42. 



