THE ORANG-OUTANG. 113 



like any well-taught child ; Joseph, with a napkin over 

 his arm, waiting upon him as solemnly as an English 

 butler. To be sure, they stole the best fruit — but then, 

 no one is perfect ! It was with a real pang that I left 

 these little fellows behind with a friend, to whom I gave 

 them on my departure from Borneo. 



Perhaps this is the only case on record of the growth 

 in captivity of a young orang-outang, and it is interesting 

 to note in what ways he resembled a child. When very 

 young he lay nearly always on his back, with his legs in 

 the air, and when he wanted anything he simply put his 

 head back and howled till he got it. When he first began 

 to walk it was with the same timid hesitation that a child 

 does, and when he succeeded in taking a few steps with- 

 out falling, he glanced at us with a very human look of 

 triumph. The appearance of the goat always caused him 

 a high degree of satisfaction, expressed, again like a child 

 on the entrance of its mother, by little sighs of content- 

 ment. I may say, indeed, that up to the age of four or 

 five months I saw nothing different in him from what 

 I have remarked in a child except that difference of 

 development mentioned before. 



My stay in Borneo was coming to an end when one 

 morning I set out on a hunting trip which proved well- 

 nigh my last. I carried my smooth twenty-four bore 

 and, in deference to the Dyaks' urgent appeals, my rifle 

 with its explosive ammunition. 



"It is a dangerous neighborhood," one of them said, 



8 



