2 ORAN OTAN. 



countries, are, at certain seasons, very violent, and of! 

 long continuance. They abstain entirely from animal 

 food, living only on vegetables and fruit. When at- 

 tacked, they are savage and ferocious ; and they sometimes 

 kill the negroes who traverse the forests. The elephants ! 

 which feed near their haunts, they have been known to ; 

 belabour so heartily with their fists and with sticks, as j 

 to make them roar out aloud, and to put them to flight. 

 They cannot be caught alive, except when young ; nor 

 even then until the mother is killed, to whose dead body 

 they cling with astonishing tenacity. Their rude and 

 awkward resemblance to the human form, has caused 

 them, sometimes, to be distinguished by the name of 

 wild men of the woods. The Hottentots, most absurdly, 

 believe that they are able to speak, but that they do not, 

 lest they should be set to work. 



Very few of these animals have, hitherto, been do- 

 mesticated. In a tame state they are sufficiently tract- 

 able and good-tempered ; and imitate human gestures 

 with great facility and address. A female Oran Otan, i 

 which was brought alive into Holland, from the Island i 

 of Borneo, in the year 1776, would take up strawberries | 

 or other fruit with a fork, and put them into her mouth, i 

 holding, at the same time, the plate in her other hand. ! 

 After drinking, she would wipe her lips with a towel : ; 

 and after eating, if presented with a tooth-pick, would i 

 use it in a proper manner. At night, when about to \ 

 retire to rest, she would prepare the bed on which she 

 slept, by shaking well the hay, and putting it in order ; 

 and, lastly, would cover herself up warm with the 

 quilt. 



The Oran Otan is of a rusty-brown colour; and, 

 from the elbow to the hand the hair is reversed, or 

 grows with the points backward. This animal is not 



