THE BLACK OEANG. 101 



The age of this animal, when Mr May first saw it, 

 was about twenty, one years. It died in the following 

 year, but had evidently increased in height dining the 

 interval. If we may depend on this account, we may 

 thence conclude that the height will reach six feet at 

 least, while the age attained by them will naturally 

 be considerable. 



Young animals have only been exhibited in this 

 country, and we shall now give the account of Dr 

 Trail of one shown in Liverpool. We have extracted 

 it from the Transactions of the Wemerian Society : 



" It was a female, and was procured in the Isle of 

 Princes in the Gulf of Guinea, from a native trader, 

 who had carried it thither from the banks of the 

 Gaboon. It was represented as a young animal, far 

 inferior in size to the specimens often seen in the re- 

 cesses of its native forests; and Captain Payne observed, 

 that it was at least eight or ten inches lower in stature 

 than another which he had seen in the Isle of Princes. 



" The natives of Gaboon informed him, that this 

 species attains the height of five or six feet, that it is 

 a formidable antagonist to the elephant, and that 

 several of them will not scruple to attack the lion, 

 and other beasts of prey, with clubs and stones. It 

 is dangerous for solitary individuals to travel through 

 the woods haunted by the orang outang ; and instances 

 were related to Captain Payne of negro girls being 

 earned of by this animal, who have sometimes escaped 

 to human society, after having been for years detain 



