462 



(Erorturg at Datura! 5? is' tori? J 



Itself from the branches. When alarmed or 

 irritated, it emits a most disgusting odour. 

 In captivity it is slothful, and becomes in- 

 ordinately fat, eating both animal and ve- 

 getable food with voracity. The flesh re- 

 sembles in flavour that of a voung pig. The 

 wool, especially of those killed during the 

 winter, is very long and fine, and might be 

 advantageously employed in many manu- 

 factures. 



The places in which the Opossum is usu- 

 ally found are thick woods, where they 

 generally dwell in the hollow of decayed 

 trees. They are usually hunted in the au- 

 tumn, after the first frosts. Instead of 

 taking to flight as soon as they perceive the 

 approach of danger, they lie close to the 

 branch on which they were clinging ; and 

 when they are discovered, the hunters take 

 them by shaking the branch violently, when 

 they fall to the ground : if, however, the 

 hunter is unaccompanied by dogs, they 

 either steal quietly away, or assume a death- 

 like position, in which they will persevere 

 even if taken up and handled. The female 

 has ten to fifteen young, and she conceals 

 herself in a thick nest of dry grass, in some 

 obscure retreat. When first born, the young 

 are in a very undeveloped state, being 

 minute, blind, naked, and shapeless ; but 

 they are always found adhering to the teats 

 of the mother, protected by her pouch. 

 There they remain for fifty days, until they 

 have attained the si/c of a mouse, at which 

 period their eyes are opened, and their bodies 

 are covered with hair. They may now be 

 seen occasionally venturing from their 

 hiding-place, but return to it on the least 

 appearance of danger : nor do they abso- 

 lutely withdraw from the care of the parent 

 for a long time after ; for when they no 

 longer resort to her pouch for protection, it 

 is said that they jump on her back, and 

 twine their tails securely in hers, so that 

 she may carry them out of the reach of 

 danger. 



ORANGE-TIP [BUTTERFLIES]. A name 

 applied by insect collectors to Butterflies of 

 the genus Hancipium. 



ORANG-OUTANG. (Simia Satyrus.) 

 Wonderful are the accounts which some of 

 the earlier travellers have related of this 

 quadrumanous animal, the far-famed 

 " Wild Man of the Woods," his size, swift- 

 ness, address, and ferocity. Persons, how- 

 ever, who have viewed these creatures only 

 in a state of captivity have been particularly 

 struck with their patient and docile dispo- 

 sitions, and their comparative helplessness : 

 but the fact is, that the specimens seen in 

 Europe have all been very young ; and it is 

 well-known that in their adult state, when 

 their muscular power is more fully deve- 

 loped, their disposition alters, and they 

 become as dangerously mischievous as they 

 are then formidable. 



The Orang-Outang is a native of the most 

 unfrequented forests in the interior of Suma- 

 tra, Borneo, Malacca, &c. ; living chiefly on 

 fruits, but occasionally eating eggs, insects, 

 and reptiles. In early youth it is remark- 

 able for its rotundity of cranium and height 



of forehead ; but these outward marks of 

 superior mental power disappear as the ani- 

 mal advances in age. They have arms so 

 long that the tops of the fingers can touch 

 the ground when they stand upright ; the 

 body is covered with coarse reddish hair ; 

 on the head, shoulders, and back it is thick, 

 but on the fore parts of the body rather thin; 

 the neck is short and thick ; the voice has a 

 peculiarly shrill and hollow tone ; the lips 

 are thin and protuberant, the ears small, the 

 nose particularly flat, and the face has a 

 bluish cast. 



One of the most authentic accounts of this 

 animal in its wild state, and which at the 

 same time conveys a gt>od idea of its power- 

 ful frame and arboreal habits, is given by 

 Dr. Clarke Abel, in the 'Asiatic Researches,' 

 who describes the capture of an Orang- 

 Outang on the north-west coast of Sumatra. 

 He was discovered by the company of a mer- 

 chant's ship at a place called Ramboon; and 

 on the approach of the boat's crew he came 

 down from a tree, and made for a clump at 

 some distance, " walking erect with a wad- 

 dling gait, but sometimes accelerating his 

 motion with his hands, and occasionally 

 impelling himself forward by the bough of 

 a tree. On being driven to a small clump, 

 he gained by one spring a very lofty branch, 

 and bounded from one branch to another 

 with the swiftness of a common monkey, his 

 progress being as rapid as that of a swift 

 horse. After receiving five balls his exer- 

 tions relaxed, and, reclining exhausted 

 against a branch, he vomited a quantity of 

 blood. The ammunition of the hunters 

 being by this time exhausted, they were 

 obliged to fell the tree in order to obtain 

 him. But what was their surprise, to see him, 

 as the tree was falling, effect his retreat 

 to another, with seemingly undiminished 

 vigour 1 In fact, they were forced to cut 

 down all the trees before they could force 

 him to combat his enemies on the ground, 

 and when finally overpowered by numbers, 

 and nearly in a dying state, he seized a spear 

 made of a supple wood, which would have 

 withstood tile strength of the stoutest man, 

 and broke it like a reed. It was stated by 

 those *ho aided in his death, that the hu- 

 man-like expression of his countenance, and 

 his piteous manner of placing his hands over 

 his wounds, distressed their feelings so us 



