QlTADRUMANA. MAMMALIA.- 



-SlMIADjE. 



The orangs appear to have little fear of man, but 

 will often stare down upon an intruder for a few minutes 

 and then remove slowly to a short distance. When 

 pursued, however, as they often are by the Dyaks, who 

 kill them with poisoned arrows and eat their flesh, they 

 manifest some alarm, and endeavour to get as quickly 

 as possible into the loftiest tree in their neighbourhood, 

 when they climb rapidly to the higher branches, break- 

 ing off the smaller boughs in their passage, and throw- 

 ing them down as if to intimidate their pursuers. This 

 habit has been exaggerated by some travellers into a 

 truly offensive action, and the orang has been described 

 as throwing branches down at its enemies ; whilst, on 

 the other hand, M. Temminck has altogether denied 

 that the creature breaks the boughs on purpose to 

 throw them down. According to Mr. Wallace, how- 

 ever, this is actually the case, although, as he states, 

 the orang " does not throw them at a person, but casts 

 them down vertically." He adds that " in one case, 

 a female mias, on a dtirian tree, kept up for at least ten 

 minutes a continuous shower of branches and of the 

 heavy spined fruits, as large as 32-pounders, which 

 most effectually kept us clear of the tree she was on. 

 She could be seen breaking them off and throwing them 

 down with every appearance of rage, uttering at inter- 

 vals a loud pumping grunt, and evidently meaning 

 mischief." 



In this way the orang remains at the top of the tree 

 on which he has taken refuge, never venturing to de- 

 scend either to attack his pursuers, or to escape, by 

 means of the interlacing lower branches, to another 

 tree ; but when badly wounded, he sets about making 

 a bed similar to his ordinary nightly lair, on which he 

 lays himself down to die. This nest effectually screens 

 him from below, and he will not quit it after it is once 

 completed. Mr. Wallace states that he lost two speci- 

 mens in this way ; they died upon their beds, and he 

 could not get any one to climb up or cut down the 

 tree until the next day, when decomposition had com- 

 menced. 



The tenacity of life in the orangs is exceedingly great, 

 and it usually requires from six to twelve bullets in the 

 body to kill them. An example of this tenacity of life 

 was afforded by the Sumatran specimen described by 

 Dr. Clarke Abel, and already alluded to on account 

 of its great size. This animal was found at a place 

 called Ramboon, on the north-west coast of Sumatra, 

 by a boat's crew who had landed to procure water. 

 He was upon one of a few trees standing in the midst 

 of cultivated ground. On the approach of the party 

 he came to the ground, but soon made his escape to 

 another tree at a little distance, and was afterwards 

 driven to take refuge in a small clump. Here his 

 movements were so quick that it was very difficult to 

 get a shot at him ; and it was only after cutting down 

 several of the trees that his pursuers succeeded in 

 shooting him. He received five balls, some of which 

 struck him in the body, when he relaxed in his exer- 

 tions, and reclining exhausted on one of the branches 

 of a tree, vomited a considerable quantity of blood. 

 " The ammunition of the hunters being by this time 

 expended," says Dr. Abel, " they were obliged to fell 

 the tree in order to obtain him ; and did this in full 



confidence that his power was so far gone that they 

 could secure him without trouble ; but were astonished, 

 as the tree was falling, to see him effect his retreat to 

 another with apparently undimiuished vigour. In fact, 

 they were obliged to cut down all the trees before they 

 could drive him to combat his enemies on the ground, 

 against whom he still exhibited surprising strength and 

 agility, although he was at length overpowered by 

 numbers, and destroyed by the thrusts of spears, and 

 the blows of stones and other missiles. When nearly 

 in a dying state, he seized a spear made of a supple 

 wood, which would have withstood the strength of the 

 stoutest man, and shivered it in pieces. In the words 

 of the narrator, ' he broke it as if it had been a carrot.' 

 It is stated by those who aided in his death, that the 

 human-like expression of his countenance and piteous 

 manner of placing his hands over his wounds, distressed 

 their feelings, and almost made them question the 

 nature of the act they were committing. When dead, 

 both natives and Europeans contemplated his figure 

 with amazement. His stature, at the lowest computa- 

 tion, was upwards of six feet at the highest it wa? 

 nearly eight;" but, from the examination of the skin, 

 Dr. Abel concludes that he must have been about seven 

 feet in height. 



M. Salomon Miiller also mentions a male orang, 

 about four feet in height, which had been wounded by 

 the Dyaks with poisoned arrows, and afterwards cap- 

 tured by them alive. Although suffering greatly from 

 his wounds, this animal exhibited great strength and 

 ferocity ; he would rise slowly from his ordinary crouch- 

 ing position, and then, seizing a favourable moment, 

 would dash impetuously towards the spectators, darting 

 his long arms through the bars of his cage, and gene- 

 rally attempting to reach the faces of those nearest to 

 him. 



Like the other apes, it appears that the orang, when 

 attacked, never makes use of his large canine teeth to 

 defend himself, but trusts entirely to the enormous 

 strength of his long arms. His enemies, however, in 

 the' forest solitudes which he frequents are very few. 

 In Sumatra, the tiger may occasionally pounce upon 

 an unlucky orang, when on his way to the water ; but 

 in Borneo, the only inhabitant of the forests that would 

 be at all a formidable enemy to the orang is the Bor- 

 nean bear, and as this animal is almost as exclusively 

 devoted to a vegetable diet as the orang himself, it is 

 hard to see what cause of quarrel can arise between 

 them. Mr. Wallace says '' The Dyaks are unani- 

 mous in their statements that the mias never either 

 attacks or is attacked by any animal, with one excep- 

 tion which is highly curious, and would hardly be 

 credible were it not confirmed by the testimony of 

 several independent parties, who have been eye-wit- 

 nesses of the circumstance. The only animal the mias 

 measures his strength with is the crocodile of these 

 regions (Crocodilus Biporcatus?). The account of the 

 natives is as follows: 'When there is little fruit in 

 the jungle, the mias goes to the river side to eat the 

 fruits that grow there, and also the young shoots ot 

 some palm-trees which are found at the water's edge. 

 The crocodile then sometimes tries to seize him, but he 

 gets on the reptile's back, beats it with his hands and feet 



