280 ANIMALS OF THE 



THE OURANG OUTANG. 



THE foremost of the Ape kind is the Ourang 

 Outang, or Wild Man of the Woods. This name 

 seems to have been given to various animals, 

 agreeing in one common character of walking 

 upright, but coming from different countries, and 

 of very different proportions and powers. The 

 Troglodyte of Bontius, the Drill of Purchas, and 

 the Pigmy of Tyson, have all received this gene- 

 ral name, and have been ranked by some natu- 

 ralists under one general description. If we read 

 the accounts of many remote travellers, under 

 this name we are presented with a formidable 

 animal, from six to eight feet high ; if we exa- 

 mine the books of such as have described it 

 nearer home, we find it a pigmy not above three. 

 In this diversity we must be content to blend 

 their various descriptions into one general ac- 

 count ; observing, at the same time, that we have 

 no reason to doubt any of their relations, although 

 we are puzzled which to follow. 



The ourang outang, which of all other ani- 

 mals most nearly approaches to the human race, 

 is seen of different sizes, from three to seven feet 

 high. In general, however, its stature is less 

 than that of a man, but its strength and agility 

 much greater. Travellers who have seen various 

 kinds of these animals in their native solitudes, 

 give us surprising relations of their force, their 

 swiftness, their address, and their ferocity. Na- 

 turalists who have observed their form and man- 



