407 



the mainstays from one mast to another, swinging by his hands, which he 

 moved one above the other ; or suddenly lower himself to the deck by any 

 rope that was near him. When playful, he would sometimes swing within 

 arm's length of his pursuer, strike him with his hand, and swing away 

 again. " The men," our author says, " would often shake the ropes by 

 which he clung with so much violence as to make me fear his falling ; 

 but I soon found that the power of his muscles could not be easily over- 

 come." He was in the habit of chasing Dr. Abel himself, for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining from his pockets, when caught, sweetmeats or fruit. 

 " Sometimes," he observes, " I endeavoured to evade him by ascend- 

 ing to the mast-head ; but was always overtaken, or intercepted in my 

 progress. When he came up with me on the shrouds, he would secure 

 himself by one foot to the rattling, and confine my legs with the other 

 and one of his hands, whilst he rifled my pockets. If he found it im- 

 possible to overtake me, he would climb to a considerable height on the 

 loose rigging, and then drop suddenly upon me ; or if, perceiving his in- 

 tention, I attempted to descend, he would slide down a rope and meet 

 me at the bottom of the shrouds." An attempt having been made, soon 

 after he was brought on board ship, to secure him by means of a chain 

 fastened to a strong staple, he instantly unfastened it and ran away, drag- 

 ging it behind him, until finding himself embarrassed by its length, he 

 coiled it once or twice, and threw it across his shoulder. " This feat 

 he often repeated ; and, when he found that it would not remain on his 

 shoulder, he took it into his mouth." 



After his arrival in England he learned to walk upright, or, rather, on 

 his feet, unsupported by his hands ; and, also, to kiss his keeper. Dr. 

 Abel states, " I have before remarked with how much difficulty he 

 accomplished the first ; and may add, that a well-trained dancing-dog 

 would far surpass him in the imitation of the human posture." 



In 1830, a young male Bornean Orang (presented by G. Swinton, 

 Esq.) lived a short time in the menagerie of the Zoological Society, 

 London. Its habits on ship-board were represented as being very similar 

 to those detailed by Dr. Abel. It is of this individual that the anatomy 

 is given in the Proceedings Zool. Soc. 1830, p. 28, et seq. The prepared 

 skin is in the museum of the Society (No. 3, in Catalogue, 1838). In 

 1832, a female (alluded to as the companion of the Chimpanzee) was pur- 

 chased by Mr. Cross, from whom it passed into the possession of Mr. 

 Wombwell. It was brought from China, but its native locality was not 

 decidedly ascertained. The fracture of one of the thighs, occasioned by 

 some accident, put an untimely period to its existence. 



In the same year a male Orang was received into the Tower mena- 

 gerie. This individual was brought direct from Borneo, by Captain 

 Blair, who had shot the mother and captured her offspring, when the latter 



