i THE ORANG. 51 



in this act, to resemble a man more than an ape, 

 taking great care of his feet, so that injury of 

 them seems to affect him far more than it does 

 other apes. Unlike the Gibbons, whose forearms 

 do the greater part of the work, as they swing 

 from branch to branch, the Orang never makes 

 even the smallest jump. In climbing, he moves 

 alternately one hand and one foot, or, after having 

 laid fast hold with the hands, he draws up both 

 feet together. In passing from one tree to an- 

 other, he always seeks out a place where the twigs 

 of both come close together, or interlace. Even 

 when closely pursued, his circumspection is amaz- 

 ing: he shakes the branches to see if they will bear 

 him, and then bending an overhanging bough 

 down by throwing his weight gradually along it, 

 he makes a bridge from the tree he wishes to quit 

 to the next.* 



On the ground the Orang always goes labori- 

 ously and shakily, on all fours. At starting he 

 will run faster than a man, though he may soon 

 be overtaken. The very long arms which, when 

 he runs, are but little bent, raise the body of the 

 Orang remarkably, so that he assumes much the 

 posture of a very old man bent down by age, and 

 making his way along by the help of a stick. In 

 walking, the body is usually directed straight for- 

 ward and uncouth." — Sir James Brooke, in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Zoological Society, 1841. 



* Mr. Wallace's account of the progression of the 

 Orang almost exactly corresponds with this. 



