QUADRUPEDS. 293 



Most nearly allied to the human race of all the species of 

 the brute creation, the black or African orang-outang (Simm 

 troglodytes of Linnaeus) may be allowed to assume the fore- 

 most place in our enumeration. It is native to no other 

 country than Africa, although we are as yet unacquainted 

 with the extent of territory which it occupies in that conti- 

 nent. Angola, the banks of the river Congo, and all the 

 districts which border the Gulf of Guinea, are the localities 

 in which it has as yet most frequently occurred. Its history, 

 like that of its Asiatic congener, the red orang-outang (Si' 

 mia satyrus, Linn.), is still involved in considerable obscu- 

 rity Its habits, in the adult state, are extremely retired 

 and "wary ; and the young alone have fallen into the hands 

 of Europeans in modern times. Great exaggeration pre- 

 vails in the narratives of all the earlier travellers regarding 

 the sagacity of this singular animal. Its external figure and 

 general conformation no doubt greatly resemble those of the 

 human race, and hence its actions have to us much of the 

 semblance of human wisdom. But a remarkable circum- 

 stance in the mental constitution of this tribe of animals dis- 

 proves their fancied alliance to mankind, — the young are 

 gentle, obedient, and extremely docile, — but as they increase 

 m years their dispositions undergo a striking change, and 

 their truly brutal nature is evinced by an unusual degree of 

 untractable ferocity. In the wild state they are inferior both 

 to the dog and the elephant in sagacity, although their ana- 

 logous structure never fails to impress the beholder with a 

 belief that they resemble man in mental character as well as 

 in corporeal form. Two species of African orang-outang 

 seem to have been described by the earlier writers. These 

 were probably the young and old of the same species seen 

 apart at different times, for later researches do not lead to 

 the belief of there being more than one. 



" The greatest of these two monsters," says Battell, " is 

 called pongo in their language ; and the less is called engeco. 

 This pongo is exactly proportioned like a man ; but he is 

 more like a giant in stature ; for he is very tall, and hath a 

 man's face, hollow-eyed, with long hair upon his brows. 

 His face and ears are without hair, and his hands also. 

 His body is full of hair, but not very thick, and it is of a 

 dunnish colour. He differeth not from a man but in his 

 legs, for they have no calf. He goeth always upon his legs, 

 £ b2 



