THE OURANG OUTANG. 181 



Specimens seen in Europe. 



make him approach the nature of man, nor ele- 

 vate him above that of the brute. 



The specimens hitherto brought into Europe, 

 have seldom exceeded three feet in height; but 

 the largest are said to be about six feet high, 

 very active, and of such prodigious strength, 

 that one of them is able with ease to overpower 

 the most muscular man. They are also exceed- 

 ingly swift, and cannot be taken without much 

 difficulty. Their colour is generally a kind of 

 dusky brown ; their feet are bare, and their ears, 

 hands, and feet, nearly resemble those of man- 

 kind. 



These animals inhabit the woods in the inte- 

 rior of Africa, and the island of Borneo. They 

 feed on fruits, and, when they happen to ap- 

 proach the shore, will eat fish or crabs. An- 

 drew Battell, a Portuguese traveller, who re- 

 sided in Angola near eighteen years, asserts, that 

 they were very common in the woods of that 

 country, where they sometimes attained a gigan- 

 tic stature. Their bodies were covered, but not 

 very thickly, with a dun-coloured hair; and their 

 legs were without calves. They always walked 

 upright, and generally, when on the ground, car- 

 ried their hands clasped on the hinder part of 

 their neck. They slept in the trees, amongst 

 which they built shelters from the rain. Their 

 food consisted of fruit and nuts, and in no in- 

 stance were they known to be carnivorous. 



Jobson informs us, that among the woods on 



