ANIMALS. 405 



same time, that we have no reason to doubt any of their rela- 

 tions, although we are puzzled which to follow. 



The Oran-Outang, which of all other animals most nearly 

 approaches to the human race, is seen of different sizes, from 

 three to seven feet high. In general, however, its stature is less 

 than that of a man ; but its strength and agility much greater. 

 Travellers, who have seen various kinds of these animals in 

 their native solitudes, give us surprising relations of their force, 

 their swiftness, their address, and their ferocity. Naturalists, 

 who have observed their form and manners at home, have been 

 as much struck with their patient, pliant, imitative dispositions ; 

 with their aj)pearance and conformation, so nearly human. Of 

 the smallest sort of these animals we have had several, at differ- 

 ent times, brought into this country, all nearly alike : but that 

 observed by Dr Tyson is the best known, having been described 

 with the greatest exactness. * 



* Naturalists are now inclined to suspect that what has hitherto been de- 

 scribed in Europe as tlie Oran-Outang is in fact, a young- Pongo — an ape 

 of great strength and size. Tlie most recent and most remarkable capture 

 of the Pongo or great oran-outang is recorded by Dr Clarke Abel, in the 

 fifteenth voliune of the Asiatic Researches. 



Dr Claike Abel's attention was originally directed to the subject by the 

 following notice in the Hurka7-a Newspaper, communicated to that journiv. 

 by one of the individuals concerned in the onslaught. 



' A party having landed ou the north coast of Sumatra, from the Mary. 

 Anne Sophia, Captain Comfoot, for the purpose of watering, fell in with an 

 animal of the monkey species of a most gigantic size. It was upwards of 

 seven feet in height ; and, after receiving seven shots, was killed. After 

 the fifth shot, it climbed a tree, and reclined against its boughs, to all ap. 

 pearance in great pain, and vomited a considerable quantity of blood. Its 

 lower jaw, and the sldn of the back and arms, which are brought round to 

 Calcutta, I have seen. Some of the teeth of the upper jaw have also arrived 

 here, and are about to bo deposited in the museum of the Asiatic Society. 

 There are some of them about tliree inches long. The lower jaw is im. 

 mense : and the skin, to which I have before referred, is so large, that, al- 

 tliough cut off from the wrists, each arm is now considerably longer than 

 mine, and I am a man not a quarter of an inch under six feet. The back is 

 remarkably broad, and is covered with long coarse brown hair. When the 

 animal made its appearance, it seemed as if it had come from some distance ; 

 and to all appearance it had been walking through a swamp, its legs, up to 

 the knees, being muddy. Its gait was slovenly, and as it went it waddled 

 from side to side.' 



Dr Abel adds the following additional information, obtained through di. 

 rect oral communication with Captain Cornfoot. ' This formidable animal 

 was more than a head taller than the tallest man ou board, even in an ordin- 



