214 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



than with that of any of the other greater man-like 

 Apes. 



It is certainly the Pongo of Wurrnb ; * and it is as cer- 

 tainly not the Pongo of Battell, seeing that the Orang- 

 utan is entirely confined to the great Asiatic islands of 

 Borneo and Sumatra. 



And while the progress of discovery thus cleared up 

 the history of the Orang, it also became established that 

 the only other man-like Apes in the eastern world were 

 the various species of Gibbon Apes of smaller stature, 

 and therefore attracting less attention than the Orangs, 

 though they are spread over a much wider range of 

 country, and are hence more accessible to observation. 



Although the geographical area inhabited by the ' Pongo ' 

 and ' Engeco ' of Battell is so much nearer to Europe than 

 that in which the Orang and Gibbon are found, our acquaint- 

 ance with the African Apes has been of slower growth ; 

 indeed, it is only within the last few years that the truthful 

 story of the old English adventurer has been rendered fully 

 intelligible. It was not until 1835 that the skeleton of the 

 adult Chimpanzee became known, by the publication of 

 Professor Owen's above-mentioned very excellent memoir 

 On the osteology of the Chimpanzee and Orang, in the 

 Zoological Transactions a memoir which, by the accuracy 

 of its descriptions, the carefulness of its comparisons, and the 

 excellence of its figures, made an epoch in the history of our 

 knowledge of the bony framework, not only of the Chim- 

 panzee, but of all the anthropoid Apes. 



By the investigations herein detailed, it became evident 

 that the old Chimpanzee acquired a size and aspect as 

 different from those of the young known to Tyson, to 

 Buffon, and to Traill, as those of the old Orang from the 

 young Orang ; and the subsequent very important re- 

 searches of Messrs. Savage and Wyman, the American 

 missionary and anatomist, have not only confirmed this 

 conclusion, but have added many new details. f 



* Speaking broadly and without prejudice to the question, whether 

 there be more than one species of Orang. 



f See " Observations on the external characters and habits of the 

 Troglodytes niger, by Thomas N. Savage, M.D., and on its organiza- 

 tion, by Jeffries Wyman, M.D.," Boston Journal of Natural History, 

 vol. iv., 1843-4 ; and " External characters, habits, and osteology 

 of Troglodytes Gorilla," by the same authors, ibid., vol. v., 1847. 



