198 Description of aft Oiirang Outang. 



siie of placing the cats on ils head was displayed on a great 

 many other occasions, and I never was able to divine the 

 cause of it. If sonic small pieces of paper fell into its hands, 

 il raised them to its head, and it did the same with ashes, 

 earth, bones, &c. 



It hat! already been mentioned that it took its food with 

 its hands or month : it was not very expert in handling our 

 knives and forks, and in this respect it resembled some sa- 

 vages whom we have heard of, but it made up for its awk- 

 wardness by its ingenuity: when the meat which was on 

 its plate did not lie conveniently for its spoon, it gave the 

 spoon to the prrson next it, in order that he might fill it. 

 It drank very well out of a glass, which it could hold in its 

 two hands. One day, after hav'mg put down the glass, it 

 saw that it was likelv to fall, and it instantly placed its 

 band at the side to which the glass inclined, and thereby 

 saved it. Several persons were witnesses to thcbC circum- 

 stances. 



Almost ail animals have occasion to protect thcimselves 

 against the effects of cold, and it is probable that the ourang 

 outant>s are in this predicament in the rainy season. I am 

 ignorant of the means resorted to by them in their state of 

 nature, but our ourang outang almost continually kept it- 

 self covered. When on ship-board it laid hold of cverv 

 , thins; that came in its way; and when a sailor had lost any 

 of his clothes, he was sure to find them in the ourang 

 outang's bed. The care which it took to keep itself covered 

 furnished us with an excellent proof of its intelligence, and 

 proved not only that il could generalize its ideas, but that 

 it had the sentiment of future wlriIs. Its coverlid was 

 spread every day on a piece of grass in the garden in front 

 of the dining room, and every day after dinner it went 

 straiuht to the garden, took its coverlid upon its shoulders, 

 and leaped upon the shoulders of a domestic that he might 

 carrv ii to bed. One dav that the coverlid was not in its 

 usual place it searched until it found it, and then threw it 

 over its shoulders us usual. 



I have already remarked that this animal was bv far tof) 

 voung to cxiiibit any of the phaenonicna connected witli 

 generation, Sec. I shall here terminate my observations, 

 akhouch I ccj'ild add a great many n:ore facts, but they 

 would throw no adiiitionnl light on the subject of our in- 

 quiries. 



What has been just stated, ought fo show that it is not 

 necessary to irultiply our expcrimtnis in urder to obtain 

 general and precise ideas as to llie iiuellectual faculties of 



the 



