ACTIVE DEFENCE 



349 



in the form of large tusks. The large man-like apes, when driven 

 to bay, prove formidable antagonists to man himself, and once 

 grasped by their powerful limbs the sequel is apt to be disagree- 

 able. Wallace (in The Malay Archipelago] thus describes the 

 result of an attack by some of the Dyaks of Borneo upon a Mias 

 or Orang-utan: "A few miles down the river there is a Dyak 

 house, and the inhabitants 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 Mias seized it in his hands, and in an 

 instant got hold of the man's arm, which he seized in his mouth, 

 making his teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he 

 tore and lacerated in a dreadful manner. Had not the others 

 been close behind, the man would have been more seriously 

 injured, if not killed, as he was quite powerless; but they soon 

 destroyed the creature with their spears and choppers. The man 

 remained ill for a long time, and never fully recovered the use 

 of his arm." The Chimpanzee and Gorilla of tropical Africa 

 would appear to be equally formidable when driven to defend 

 themselves, though many exaggerations are current, largely based, 

 no doubt, upon the accounts given by natives. 



Some of the social monkeys combine for the purpose of 

 defence, and may even resort to the use of missiles, an often- 

 described case being that of certain Baboons, which, when hard 

 pressed among the rocks, hurl down stones among the intruders. 



The formidable tusks which are constituted by the upper 

 incisors of the Walrus form no mean weapons of defence, but this 

 is apparently their least important use. These animals mainly 

 employ them in digging up the bivalve molluscs, &c., which serve 

 as their food, and also to assist in progression on ice or land. 

 They figure besides in those furious fights between the males 

 which form a regular episode in the season of courtship, and this 

 particular use for weapons is one of which many examples can 

 be given, especially noteworthy being cases where, as, e.g., in most 

 deer, the male only is provided with structures suitable for such 

 a purpose. More will be said about this elsewhere. 



Elephants are so powerful that they are pretty free from the 

 attacks of other animals, man only excepted, nor do they court 



