THE OKANG. 55 



.. 



He was a very wild beast/' says Muller, " of 

 prodigious strength, and false and wicked to the 

 last degree. If any one approached he rose up 

 slowly with a low growl, fixed his eyes in the direc- 

 tion in which he meant to make his attack, 

 slowly passed his hand between the bars of his 

 cage, and then extending his long arm, gave a 

 sudden grip — usually at the face." He never 

 tried to bite (though Orangs will bite one an- 

 other), his great weapons of offence and defence 

 being his hands. 



His intelligence was very great; and Midler re- 

 marks that though the faculties of the Orang have 

 been estimated too highly, yet Cuvier, had he seen 

 this specimen, would not have considered its intelli- 

 gence to be only a little higher than that of the dog. 



His hearing was very acute, but the sense of 

 vision seemed to be less perfect. The under lip 

 was the great organ of touch, and played a very 

 important part in drinking, being thrust out like 

 a trough, so as either to catch the falling rain, or 

 to receive the contents of the half cocoa-nut shell 

 full of water with which the Orang was supplied, 

 and which, in drinking, he poured into the trough 

 thus formed. 



In Borneo the Orang-Utan of the Malays goes 

 by the name of "Mias" among the Dyaks, who 

 distinguish several kinds as Mias Pap pan, or 

 Zimo, Mias Kassu, and Mias Bambi. Whether 

 these are distinct species, however, or whether they 



