THE UNKNOWN. 



the belief has been transferred from the one con- 

 tinent to the other, (a circumstance little proba- 

 ble, when we think of the seat of the report, in 

 the very heart of the forests of Venezuela,) their 

 adduction gives a measure of authority to the 

 statement ; while the third would be a very natu- 

 ral inference from such ferocity as animates the 

 gorilla. Both Indians and missionaries firmly 

 believe in the existence of this dreaded creature, 

 which they call vasitri, or "the great devil/' 

 Humboldt suggests that the original of what he 

 boldly calls ''the fable,'' may exist in the person 

 of "one of those large bears, the footsteps of 

 which resemble those of man, and which are be- 

 lieved in every country to attack women ;" and he 

 seems to claim credit for being the only person to 

 doubt the existence of the great anthropomor- 

 phous monkey of America. But it might be per- 

 mitted, in return, to ask what "large bear" is 

 known to inhabit Venezuela; and whether it is 

 true that bears' footsteps have a signal resem- 

 blance to those of men ; and that bears specially 

 attack women. Is not such a bear in South 

 America quite as gratuitous as the monkey him- 

 self? And, since species of Qvadrum&na are char- 

 acteristic of the forests of that region, may it not 

 be possible that some one rivalling man in stat- 

 ure and strength, may there exist, as well as in 

 Africa and the Oriental Archipelago? The mighty 

 gorilla himself has only just been introduced to us. 

 The immense, almost continental, islands of the 

 eastern hemisphere, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and, 

 above all, Papua, hold, it is likely, more unknown 

 animals than the Western Continent. Yet the re- 

 mark just made will hold good here also, — that 

 we may rather expect new species of well-known 

 genera, than any really new forms. Again, nearly 

 265 



