OF NATURAL HISTORY. iil 



iimply occupied in hunting wild animals for food to them- 

 felves and their families. The hunger, the fatigue, the hard- 

 fhips, which they not only endure, but defpife with fortitude, 

 would amaze and terrify the imagination of any civilized Eu- 

 ropean. 



Befide man, many other animals arc capable of being in- 

 ftrudted. The ape-kind, and efpeciaily the larger fpecies of 

 them, imitate the actions of men without any inftru6lion. 

 This imitation they are enabled to perform with the greater 

 exadtnefs, on account of their flrudture. The orang-outang, 

 a native of the fouthern regions of Africa and India, is as tall 

 and as ftrong as a man. He has no tail. His face is flat. 

 His arms, hands, toes, and nails, are perfe(SLly fimilar to ours. 

 He walks conftantly on end ; and the features of his vifage 

 make a near approach to thofe of the human countenance. 

 He has a beard on his chin, and no more hair on his body 

 than men have when in a flate of nature. He knows how 

 to bear arms, to attack his enemies with ftones, and to de- 

 fend himfelf with a club. Of all the apes, the orang-outang, 

 or luild mati, as he is called by the Indians, has the greateft 

 refemblance to a man both in the ftruclure of his body and 

 in his manners. There are two fuppofed fpecies of orang- 

 outang, a larger and a fmaller. The latter has been feveral 

 times brought to Europe, and accurate defcriptions have 

 been given both to his external and internal parts. Eut, 

 with regard to the larger kind, who is faid to exceed the or- 

 dinary ftature of man, we have nothing to rely on but the 

 relations of travellers. Bontius, who was the chief Phyfician 

 in Batavia, afhrms exprefsly, that he faw, with admiration, 

 feveral individuals of this fpecies walking on their two feet. 

 Among others, he remarked a female, who feemed to have a 

 fenfe of modefty, who covered her face Vvith her hands when 

 men approached her with whom fhe was unacquainted, who 

 wept, groaned, and feemed to want nothing of humanity bul: 



