THE GORILLA AND OTHER . APES. 309 



nor was it till intermediate forms were obtained, exhibiting 

 in some degree the peculiarities of both extremes, that they 

 were finally recognized as distinguishing different periods of 

 growth only." 



Unlike the gorilla, which attacks man with peculiar 

 malignity, and the chimpanzee, which when in large troops 

 assails those who approach its retreats, the orang, even in 

 its adult stale, seems not to be dangerous unless attacked. 

 Even then he does not always show great ferocity. The 

 two following anecdotes illustrate well its character. The 

 first is from the pen of Dr. Abel Clarke (fifth volume of the 

 " Asiatic Researches ") ; the other is from Wallace's inter- 

 esting work, " The Malay Archipelago." An orang-outang 

 fully seven feet high was discovered by the company of a 

 merchant ship, at a place called Ramboon, on the north- 

 west coast of Sumatra, on a spot where there were few trees 

 and little cultivated 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 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 appearance of 

 a tall man-like figure, covered with shining brown hair, 

 walking erect, with a waddling gait, but sometimes accelerat- 

 ing his motion with his hands, and occasionally impelling 

 himself forward with the bough of a tree. His motion on 

 the ground was evidently not his natural mode of progression, 

 for, even when assisted by his hands and the bough, it was 

 slow and vacillating ; it was necessary 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, his progress being as rapid 

 as that of a swift horse. After receiving five balls his exer- 

 tions relaxed, and, reclining exhausted against a branch, 

 he vomited a quantity of blood. The ammunition of the 

 <hunters being by this time exhausted, they were obliged to 



