46 THE MAX-LIKE APES. i 



upon this subject almost entirely on their state- 

 ments, adding, here and there, particulars of in- 

 terest from the writings of Brooke, Wallace, and 

 others. 



The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed 

 four feet in height, but the body is very bulky, 

 measuring two-thirds of the height in circumfer- 

 ence.* 



The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and 

 Borneo, and is common in neither of these islands 

 — in both of which it occurs always in low, flat 

 plains, never in the mountains. It loves the 

 densest and most sombre of the forests, which 

 extend from the sea-shore inland, and thus is 

 found only in the eastern half of Sumatra, where 

 alone such forests occur, though, occasionally, it 

 strays over to the western side. 



* The largest Orang-Utan, cited by Temminck, meas- 

 ured, when standing upright, four feet; but he mentions 

 having just received news of the capture of an Orang 

 five feet three inches high. Schlegel and Miiller say that 

 their largest old male measured, upright, 1.25 Nether- 

 lands "el "; and from the crown to the end of the toes, 

 1.5 el; the circumference of the body being about 1 el. 

 The largest old female was 1.09 el high, when standing. 

 The adult skeleton in the College of Surgeons' Museum, 

 if set upright, would stand 3 ft. 6-8 in. from crown to 

 sole. Dr. Humphry gives 3 ft. 8 in. as the mean height 

 of two Orangs. Of seventeen Orangs examined by Mr. 

 Wallace, the largest was 4 ft. 2 in. high, from the heel to 

 the crown of the head. Mr. Spencer St. John, however, in 

 his Life in the Forests of the Far Fast, tells us of an 

 Orang of " 5 ft. 2 in., measuring fairly from the head to 

 the heel." 15 in. across the face, and 12 in. round tbe 

 wrist. It flops not appear, however, that Mr. St. John 

 measured this Orang himself. 



