26 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



Tulpius, nor the Pigmy of Tyson, — it is an animal of a 

 peculiar species, as I shall prove in the clearest manner 

 by the organs of voice and the skeleton in the following 

 chapters." (1. c. p. 64). 



A few years later, M. Badermacher, who held* a high 

 office in the Government of the Dutch dominions in In- 

 dia, and was an active member of the Batavian Society of 

 Arts and Sciences, published, in the second part of the 

 Transactions of that Society,* a Description of the Island 

 of Borneo, which was written between the years 1779 and 

 1781, and, among much other interesting matter, contains 

 some notes upon the Orang. The small sort of Orang- 

 utan, viz. that of Yosmaer and of Edwards, he says, is 

 found only in Borneo, and chiefly about Banjermassing, 

 Mampauwa, and Landak. Of these he had seen some 

 fifty during his residence in the Indies ; but none ex- 

 ceeded 2^ feet in length. The larger sort, often regarded 

 as chimaera, continues Badermacher, would, perhaps, long- 

 have remained so, had it not been for the exertions of the 

 Besiclent at Bembang, M. Palm, who, on returning from 

 Landak towards Pontiana, shot one, and forwarded it to 

 Batavia in spirit, for transmission to Europe. 



Palm's letter describing the capture runs thus : — 

 " Herewith I send your Excellency, contrary to all ex- 

 pectation (since long ago I offered more than a hundred 

 ducats to the natives for an Orang-Utan of four or five 

 feet high) an Orang which I heard of this morning about 

 eight o'clock. For a long time we did our best to take 

 the frightful beast alive in the dense forest about half way 

 to Landak. We forgot even to eat, so anxious were we 

 not to let him escape ; but it was necessary to take care 

 he did not revenge himself, as he kept continually break- 



* Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap. Tweede Deel. 

 Derde Druk. 1826. 



