3io PLEASANT WAYS IN SCIENCE. 



fell the tree in order to obtain him ; but what was their sur- 

 prise to see him, as the tree was falling, effect his retreat to 

 another, with seemingly undiminished vigour ! In fact, they 

 were obliged to cut down all the trees before they could 

 force him to combat his enemies on the ground, and when 

 finally overpowered by numbers, and nearly in a dying state, 

 he seized a spear made of supple wood, which would have 

 withstood the strength of the stoutest man, and broke it like 

 a reed. It was stated, by those who aided in his death, that 

 the human-like 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 were committing. He was seven feet high, 

 with a broad expanded chest and narrow waist. His chin 

 was fringed with a beard that curled neatly on each side, 

 and formed an ornamental rather than a frightful appendage 

 to his visage. His arms were long even in proportion to his 

 height, but his legs were much shorter. Upon the whole, he 

 was a wonderful beast to behold, and there was more about 

 him to excite amazement than fear. His hair was smooth 

 and glossy, and his whole appearance showed him to be in 

 the full vigour of his youth and strength." On the whole, 

 the narrative seems to suggest a remark similar to one 

 applied by Washington Irving to the followers of Ojeda and 

 their treatment of the (so-called) Indians of South America, 

 "we confess we feel a momentary doubt whether the arbitrary 

 appellation of 'brute' is always applied to the right party." 



The other story also presents man as at least as brutal as 

 the orang concerned in the event. " A few miles down the 

 river," says Wallace, "there is a Dyak house, and the in- 

 habitants saw a large orang feeding on the young shoots of a 

 palm by the river-side. On being alarmed he retreated 

 towards the jungle which was close by, and a number of the 

 men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept 

 him. The man who was in front tried to run his spear 

 through the animal's body ; but the orang seized it in his 

 hands, and in an instant got hold of the man's arm, which 



