52 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



say that the Orang is more than a match for his enemy, 

 and beats him to death, or rips up his throat by pulling 

 the jaws asunder ! 



Much of what has been here stated was probably de- 

 rived by Dr. Miiller from the reports of his Dyak hunters ; 

 but a large male, four feet high, lived in captivity under 

 his observation, for a month, and receives a very bad char- 

 acter. 



" He was a very wild beast," says Muller, " of prodi- 

 gious 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 direction 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 another), Ins great weapons of offence 

 and defence being his hands. 



His intelligence was very great ; and Muller remarks, 

 that, though the faculties of the Orang have been esti- 

 mated too highly, yet Cuvier, had he seen this specimen, 

 would not have considered its intelligence to be only a lit- 

 tle higher than that of a 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 drink- 

 ing, 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 sev- 

 eral kinds as Mias Pajypan, or Zimo, Mias Kassu, and 

 Mias Rarribi. Whether these are distinct species, how- 



