\o 



ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. 



" quire from the negroes ; but I can by no means vouch for the truth 

 " of any part of it. What I fay from my own obfervation you may 

 " depend on for fa<3:." 



From this account of Mr Begg, it is evident that they are fo far 

 advanced towards the poUtical hfe, as to herd together, and to com- 

 municate together, by a chattering guttural noiie, which, I am per- 

 fuaded, led the way among all people to articulation and the ufe of 

 fpeech. And the Briftol merchant, with whom 1 have correfpouded, 

 and whofe communications I have mentioned in the xft volume of the 

 Origin and Progrefs of Language * fays, that he heard that they 

 were fo far advanced in the political life, as to have a king or go- 

 vernor f. It appears alfo, from Mr Begg's account, that they have 

 fo much of the focial fpirit in them, and are To much attached to their 

 herd, as not to negled them even when they are dead, but to carry 

 off their bodies for burial. 



This animal, it is to be obferved, lives entirely upon the fruits of 

 the earth ; for the carnivorous diet I hold to be unnatural to man, 

 and that he was firft driven to it by neceflity, which could not be 

 the cafe of the Ourang Outang, who lives in a fruitful country, very 

 thinly peopled. Further, he has not the ufe of water, except to 

 drink it j for fwimming or failing, I hold to be likewife unnatural 

 to man, and that it was alfo neceffity that firft drove him to it. 



There is another obfervation I have to make, which is, that the 

 Ourang Outang fometimes walks upon all four. And the Briftol mer- 

 chant, above mentioned, fays, that the fmalleft clafs of this 

 fpecies, called Chimpenza by the natives, walks oftener on all 

 four, than upright:}:. And there is a French writer, La BrofTe, 



who 



• Page 281. 

 f Ibid. p. 282. 

 j" Ibid. p. 282. 



