228 ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



pelvis, which are termed the ischia, and which form the 

 solid framework of the surface on which the body rests 

 in the sitting posture, are not expanded like those of the 

 apes which possess callosities, but are more like those 

 of man. 



An Orang climbs so slowly and cautiously,* as, in this 

 act, to resemble a man more than an ape, taking great 

 care of his feet, so that injury of them seems to affect him 

 far more than it does other apes. Unlike the Gibbons, 

 whose forearms do the greater part of the work, as they 

 swing from branch to branch, the Orang never makes 

 even the smallest jump. In climbing, he moves alternately 

 one hand and one foot, or, after having laid fast hold with 

 the hands, he draws up both feet together. In passing 

 from one tree to another, he always seeks out a place 

 where the twigs of both come close together, or interlace. 

 Even when closely pursued, his circumspection is amaz- 

 ing : he shakes the branches to see if they will bear him, 

 and then bending an overhanging bough down by throw- 

 ing his weight gradually along it, he makes a bridge from 

 the tree he wishes to quit to the next, t 



On the ground the Orang always goes laboriously and 

 shakily, on all fours. At starting he will run faster than a 

 man, though he may soon be overtaken. The very long 

 arms which, when he runs, are but little bent, raise the 

 body of the Orang remarkably, so that he assumes much 

 the posture of a very old man bent down by age, and 

 making his way along by the help of a stick. In walking, 

 the body is usually directed straight forward, unlike the 

 other apes, which run more or less obliquely ; except the 

 Gibbons, who in these, as in so many other respects, depart 

 remarkably from their fellows. 



The Orang cannot put its feet flat on the ground, but 

 is supported upon their outer edges, the heel resting more 

 on the ground, while the curved toes partly rest upon the 

 ground by the upper side of their first joint, the two outer- 

 most toes of each foot completely resting on this surface. 

 The hands are held in the opposite manner, their inner edges 



* " They are the slowest and least active of all the monkey tribe, 

 and their motions are surprisingly awkward and uncouth." Sir 

 James Brooke, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 

 1841. 



t Mr. Wallace's account of the progression of the Orang almost 

 exactly corresponds with this. 



