224 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



half the length of the cabin, I spoke quietly, without frighten- 

 ing him. The instant he found I saw him, he walked back 

 again, and deposited the soap nearly in the same place from 

 whence he had taken it. There was certainly something 

 more than instinct in that action : he evidently betrayed 

 a consciousness of having done wrong both by his first and 

 last actions and what is reason if that is not an exercise 

 of it ? " 



The most elaborate account of the natural history of 

 the ORANG-UTAN extant, is that given in the " Verhande- 

 lingen over de Natuurlijke Geschiedenis der Nederland- 

 sche overzeesche Bezittingen (1839-45)," by Dr. Salomon 

 Miiller and Dr. Schlegel, and I shall base what I have to say 

 upon this subject almost entirely on their statements, adding 

 here and there, particulars of interest from the writings of 

 Brooke, Wallace, and others. 



The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet 

 in height, but the body is very bulky, measuring two-thirds 

 of the height in circumference.* 



The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo, 

 and is common in neither of these islands in both of which 

 it occurs always in low, flat plains, never in the mountains. 

 It loves the densest and most sombre of the forests, which 

 extend from the sea-shore inland, and thus is found only 

 in the eastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests 

 occur, though, occasionally, it strays over to the western 

 side. 



On the other hand, it is generally distributed through 

 Borneo, except in the mountains, or where the population 



* The largest Orang-Utan, cited by Temminck, measured, when 

 standing upright, 4 ft. ; but he mentions having just received news 

 of the capture of an Orang 5 ft. 3 in. high. Schlegel and Miiller say 

 that their largest old male measured, upright, 1.25 Netherlands 

 " el " ; and from the crown to the end of the toes, 1.5 el ; the 

 circumference of the body being about 1 el. The largest old female 

 was 1.09 el high, when standing. The adult skeleton in the College 

 of Surgeons' Museum, if set upright, would stand 3 ft. 6-8 in. from 

 crown to sole. Dr. Humphry gives 3 ft. 8 in. as the mean height of 

 two Orangs. Of seventeen Orangs examined by Mr. Wallace, the 

 largest was 4 ft. 2 in. high, from the heel to the crown of the head. 

 Mr. Spencer St. John, however, in his Life in the Forests of the 

 Far East, tells us of an Orang of " 5 ft. 2 in., measuring fairly from 

 the head to the heel," 15 in. across the face, and 12 in. round the 

 wrist. It does not appear, however, that Mr. St. John measured this 

 Orang himself. 



