142 



CHAP. XVI. 



ANIMALS OF THE MONKEY KIND. 



QUADRUPEDS may be considered as a numerous 

 groupe, terminated on every side by some that scarcely 

 come under the denomination, or the name. On one 

 quarter we see a tribe, covered with quills, or furnish- 

 ed with wings to exalt them in the air ; on another, 

 . we behold a diversity clothed with scales and shells, to 

 rank with insects ; and still, on a third, we see them 

 descending into the waters to live among the mute te- 

 nants of that element ; but we now come to a numer- 

 ous tribe, that, leaving the brute creation to them- 

 selves, seem to make approaches to the human race, 

 and discover some feint efforts at intellectual sagacity. 



THE OURAN OUTANG, OR WILD MAN OF THE 

 WOOD. 



This name seems to have been given to various ani- 

 mals agreeing in one common character of walking 

 upright ; but, by coming from different countries, vary 

 greatly both in proportion and size; for the troglodyte 

 ofBontius, and drill of Purchas, and the pigniy of 

 Tyson, have all received this general name. . 



Of all animals in the creation the ouran outang inakes 

 the nearest approaches to the human race : sagacious, 

 imitative, and obedient, it easily becomes subservient 

 to the dictates of man, and follows his instructions 

 with that zealous kind of compliance that seems to re- 

 sult from a combination of reflection and sense. — 

 Though several of these animals have been brought 

 into England, none of them have been of the largest 

 kind; and, though some travellers describe them to 



