MONKEY KIND. 291 



them very plentifully all the time. He assures 

 us that he knew a woman of Loango that had 

 lived among these animals for three years. They 

 grow from six to seven feet high, and are of un- 

 equalled strength. They build sheds, and make 

 use of clubs for their defence. Their faces are 

 broad, their noses flat, their ears without a tip, 

 their skins are more bright than that of a Mulatto, 

 and they are covered on many parts of the body 

 with long and tawny-coloured hair. Their belly 

 is large, their heels flat, and yet rising behind. 

 They sometimes walk upright, and sometimes 

 upon all-fours, when they are fantastically dis- 

 posed. 



From this description of the ourang outang, 

 we perceive at what a distance the first animal of 

 the brute creation is placed from the very lowest 

 of the human species. Even in countries peopled 

 with savages, this creature is considered as a 

 beast ; and in those very places where we might 

 suppose the smallest difference between them 

 and mankind, the inhabitants hold it in the 

 greatest contempt and detestation. In Borneo, 

 where this animal has been said to come to its 

 greatest perfection, the natives hunt it in the 

 same manner as they pursue the elephant or the 

 lion, while its resemblance to the human form 

 procures it neither pity nor protection. The 

 gradations of nature in the other parts of nature 

 are minute and insensible : in the passage from 

 quadrupeds to fishes we can scarcely tell where 

 the quadruped ends and the fish begins ; in the 

 descent from beasts to insects we can hardly dis- 



