216 Dr. C. Abel on the Sumalran Orang Outang. 



liarity in this respect seems to have been a subject of intense 

 surprise to all his assailants. In reference to this point it may 

 be proper to remark, that after he had been carried on board 

 ship, and was hauled up for the purpose of being skinned, the 

 first stroke of the knife on the skin of the arm produced an 

 instantaneous vibration of its muscles, followed by a convul- 

 sive contraction of the whole member. A like quivering of 

 the muscles occurred when the knife was applied to the skin 

 of the back, and so impressed Captain Cornibot with a per- 

 suasion that the animal retained his sensibility, that he ordered 

 the process of skinning to stop till the head had been removed. 



It seems probable that this animal had travelled from some 

 distance to the place where he was found, as his legs were 

 covered with mud up to the knees, and he was considered as 

 great a prodigy by the natives as by the Europeans. They 

 had never before met with an animal like him, although they 

 lived within two days journey of one of the vast and almost 

 impenetrable forests of Sumatra. They seemed to think that 

 his appearance accounted for many strange noises, resembling 

 screams and shouts, and various sounds, which they could 

 neither attribute to the roar of the tiger, nor to the voice of 

 any other beast with which they were familiar. "What capa- 

 bility the great Orang Outang may possess of uttering such 

 sounds does not appear, but this belief of the Malays may 

 lead to the capture of other individuals of his species, and to 

 the discovery of more interesting particulars of his conforma- 

 tion and habits. 



The only material discrepancy which I can detect in the 

 different accounts which have been given of this animal, re- 

 gards his height, which in some of them is vaguely stated at 

 from above six feet to nearly eight. Captain Cornfoot how- 

 ever, who favoured me with a verbal description of the animal 

 ■when brought on board his ship, stated that " he was a full 

 head taller than any man on board, measuring seven feet in 

 what might be called his ordinary standing posture, and eight 

 feet when suspended for the purpose of being skinned." 



The following measurements, which I have carefully made 

 of different parts of the animal in the Society's Museum, go 

 far to determine this point, and are entirely in favour of Cap- 

 tain Cornfoot's accuracy. The skin of the body of the animal 

 dried and shrivelled as it is, measures in a straight line from 

 the top of the shoulder to the part where the ancle has been 

 removed, 5 feet 10 inches, the perpendicular length of the neck 

 as it is in the preparation 3^ inches, the length of the head 

 from the top of the forehead to the end of the chin 9 inches, 

 and the length of the skin still attached to the fopt from its 



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