36o APPENDIX. Chap. III. 



publifhetl his Travels lii the Eaft Indies, among other cariofities 

 which he mentions in that country, has made fome obfervations up- 

 on the Orang Outangs. He never faw but one of them, and that 

 V7as in the Ifland of Sumatra ; but he appears to have inquired much 

 about them ; and he informs us that it is the univerfal opinion of the 

 EaO: Indians, that he is a man, but a ivild man, or itian of the ivoodsy 

 which the nameofO -ang Outang imports. Thofe people, therefore, 

 in whofe country they are, and who Iliould beft know them, are 

 all of opinion that they are men and not monkeys, which are ani- 

 mals perfediy well known in India, where they are in great num- 

 bers : And, accordingly, our author has given us a very particular 

 account of their manners, and method of living, the beft, I believe, 

 that is extant ; and, from what he fays of them, and of the Orang 

 Outang, it is evident that he did not believe that the Orang Outang 

 was of their fpecies. At the fame time, he lets us know that the opi- 

 nion of the European philofophers is that he is a monkey; but he ob- 

 ferves very juftly that in Europe only nngle individuals of them have 

 been feen, and thefe, children and in a ftate of captivity and confine- 

 ment, not in their natural ftate ; whereas, in India, they are feen in that 

 ftate ; and, as our author informs us, they live in the woods, or upon 

 mountains of difficult accefs, in little focieties, which do every thing 

 for their defence or fubfiftance that can be expeded of men abfo- 

 lutely wild and favage : And he fays he was informed by the Ma- 

 layfe, and all the other Indians, that, when they are in a ftate of 

 liberty, they copulate moft willingly w4th the females' of our fpe- 

 cies ; and they added that the offspring of that copulation does like- 

 wife produce* ; which, if true, puts an end to the queftion, and is 

 decifive of their humanity. 



The one he faw in Sumatra was four French feet high,- and be- 

 twixt eight and ten inches more, that is, above five Englifh feet,^ 



which 



* Eflays Philofophiques, &c. p. 571. 



