I — 



> YERTEBRATA 



hog's . uttering at the same time ;t sound which might be described as between the croaking 



ut' a Frog and the gruntiug of a pig. After some time be ventured to descend, but with great 

 caution, peeping continually at the turtles, but could not be induced to approach within many 

 yards of them. He ran to the Bame height, and uttered the same sounds, on seeing some men 

 bathing and splashing in the Bea, and since his arrival in England has shown nearly the same 

 of fear at the sight of a live tortois 

 The same writer has given a verj interesting narrative of the capture of an adult orang-outang, 

 which was of gigantic proportions. This animal was discovered by the boat's cre\i of a merchant 

 ship, at a place called liamboom, near Touraman, <>n the northwest coast of Sumatra, on a spot 

 where there were a few trees on a piece of culth ited ground. It was evident that he had come 

 from a distance, for his legs were covered with mud up to the knees, and the natives were entirely 

 unacquainted with him. On the approach of the boat's crew, he came down from the tree in 

 which he was discovered, and made for a clump at some distance, exhibiting as he moved the ap- 

 pearance of a tall, man-like figure, covered with sinning brown hair, walking erect, with a wad- 

 dling gait, hat sometimes accelerating his motion with his hands, and occasionally impelling him- 

 self forward by the bough of a tree. His motion on the ground was evidently not his natural 

 mode i f p: 2 >n, for even when assisted by his hands, or a stick, it was slow and vacillating. 



[t was n cessarj to see him among the trees to estimate his strength and agility. On being 

 driven to a small clump, he gained by one spring a very lofty branch, and bounded from one 

 branch to another with the swiftness of a common monkey. Had the country been covered with 



a i. it would have been almost impossible to prevent his escape, as his mode of traveling from 



one ti-ee to another was as rapid as tin' progress of a swift horse. Even amid tins few trees that 

 were on the spot, his movements were so quick, that it was very difficult to obtain a settled aim; 

 and it was only by cutting down one tree after another, that his pursuers, by confining him within 

 ry limited range, were enabled to destroy him by several successive shots. Having received 

 balls, hi- exertions relaxed, and reclining exhausted against a branch, he vomited a quantity 

 ofbloo !. Tiie ammunition of the hunters being by this time exhausted, they were obliged to fell 

 the tree in order to obtain him; but what was their surprise to see him, as the tree was falling, 

 effect his retreat to another, with seemingly undiminished vigor ! In fact, they were compelled 

 ,t down all the trees before tiny could force him to meet his enemies on the ground; and 

 when finally overpowered by numbers, and nearly in a dying state, he seize.] a spear made of 

 supp liich would have withstood the strength of the stoutest man, and, in the words of 



tor, broke it "like a carrot." It was state,! by those who aided in his death, that the 

 expression of his countenance, and his piteous manner of placing his hands over his 

 wounds, distressed their feelings so as almost to make them question the nature of the act they 

 immitting. lie was more than seven feet high, with a broad expanded chest, and narrow- 

 Hi- chin was fringed with a beard, that curled neatly on each side, and formed an orna- 

 mental rather than frightful appendage to his visage. His arms were long even in proportion to 

 liis height, hut his legs were much shorter. LTpon the whole he was a wonderful beast to behold, 

 and tie: more about him to excite amazement than fear. His hair was smooth and glo 



and his whole appearance showed him to he in the full vigor of youth and strength. This speci- 

 men is pr served in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of London. 



We could add still other accounts of the orang-outang, hut these will doubtless satisfy the 

 reader. We have Been the gorilla to figure in the history of Hanno, the Carthaginian : it appears 

 that tin- orang is connected with that of Alexander of Macedon. At the present day it is con- 

 fined ;•> Borneo and the adjacent island of Sumatra; but at an earlier date it was doubl 

 spread over much wider territories. Strabo tells us that when the Macedonian conqueror pene- 

 trated into India with his victorious troops, he encountered a multitudinous band, which he con- 

 ceived to be a hostile army. lb' made immediate preparations to attack this force, upon which 

 he was informed by KingTaxilla that these beings were only pacific apes, entirely destitute of the 

 spiril It is by no means impossible that animals of this species were spread over the 



tropica] portions of Asia, and perhaps i \en the warm parts of Europe. These, in the early ages 

 of th ■ world, doubtless made impressions upon the vivid imaginations of the human inhabitants, 



