Mr. A. R. Wallacv on the Habits of the Orang-Utan. 29 



would j)r()bably be beaten. The Dyaks arc unanimous in their 

 statements that the Alias never either attacks or is attacked by 

 any animal, with one exception, which is highly curious, and 

 would hardly be credible wei-e it not confirmed by the testimony 

 of several independent parties, who have been eye-witnesses of 

 the circumstance. The only animal the Alias measures his 

 strength with is the Crocodile of these regions [Crocodilus bipor- 

 caius?). The account of the natives is as follows: — ""When 

 there is little fruit in the jungle, the Alias goes to the river-side to 

 eat the fruits that grow there, and also the young shoots of some 

 palm-trees which are found at the water's edge. The crocodile 

 then sometimes tries to seize him, but he gets on the reptile's 

 back, beats it with his hands and feet on the head and neck, and 

 pulls open its jaws till he rips up the throat. The Alias always 

 kills the crocodile, for he is very strong. There is no animal in 

 the jungle so strong as he." 



Now it is very important to observe, that in this, the only 

 case in which the Alias has to defend himself against a formidable 

 attack, he never uses his teeth at all ! He depends solely upon 

 the immense strength of his arms. But even if we suppose that 

 in Sumatra he is sometimes exposed to the attacks of the tiger, 

 does any one imagine for a moment that his teeth would be of 

 the slightest use to him ? The tiger always attacks unawares, 

 and almost always from behind. Let us imagine, then, a tiger 

 springing upon the back of an Orang who was walking vipon the 

 ground ; what could the animal possibly do, with those fearful 

 claws deep in his back and shoulders, and those tremendous 

 teeth firmly fastened in his neck ? The vertebrse would probably 

 be broken, and the Alias would fall dead on the spot, as almost 

 every animal does under such an attack ; more especially as the 

 tiger, knowing the strength of its prey, would be sure to strike 

 at a mortal part, or obtain such a hold as could not be shaken 

 off. But there is yet another consideration, which shows that 

 the canines of the Orang can hardly have been given it for the 

 purpose of enabling it to defend itself against its enemies. The 

 females have very small canines, and comparatively weak jaws ; 

 and as they, vvhen suckling young ones, require defence far more 

 than the males, who are so much more powerful, the same 

 weapons would hardly have been denied them. It may be 

 objected, that they would be guarded by the males ; but this 

 cannot be the case, because the females with young are always 

 found alone, and the adult males also by themselves, as is the 

 case with many other animals. 



Here then we have an animal which lives solely and exclusively 

 on fruits or other soft vegetable food, and yet has huge canine 

 teeth. It never attacks other animals, and is rarely attacked 



