409 



and confident of its security. Sometimes it would suspend itself by the 

 hand and foot of the same side, the head hanging down, and the dis- 

 engaged hand playing with various articles within its reach ; sometimes it 

 would swing with the body horizontally, and in this attitude the hip-joint of 

 the hinder limb in use was bent at a right angle, laterally, shewing how 

 freely the head of the thigh-bone rotates in its socket. Still, however, 

 though its attitudes were as varied as can be imagined, its actions were slow 

 and deliberate ; excepting, indeed, on one or two occasions, when it wished 

 to follow its keeper, who had opened the door of its cage : even then, 

 it did not bound from branch to branch like a Monkey, but, stretching out its 

 arms, and grasping the branches within its reach, it swung itself onward, and 

 so descended to the floor, along which it hobbled awkwardly and unsteadily. 

 One thing, as respects both the hands and feet of this Orang, could not 

 be overlooked; namely, that their mode of application to the branches, 

 during the arboreal evolutions of the animal, was hook-like ; and, from the 

 power of the adductor muscles of the thumb, and flexor muscles of the 

 fingers, tenacious and enduring, rather than tight and fixed. This observa- 

 tion is especially applicable to the feet: in these, the shortness of the 

 thumb, though capable in itself of firm and close application, renders it 

 rather a fulcrum, against which the long fingers oppose their stress, than, 

 by folding upon them, an adjunct to them in the act of prehension; and 

 hence, though admirably fitted for the movements of the animal among the 

 trees of the forest, and the kind of hold necessary for freedom and security, 

 the foot of the Orang is, perhaps, less energetic in its grasp than that of 

 the semi-arboreal Chimpanzee, in which the hind thumb is proportionately 

 longer, and the foot broader, than in the Orang. At all events, it was in 

 this manner that the young Orang used both its hands and feet ; its fingers 

 forming hooks, suspended by which, it could swing backward and forward 

 with the greatest facility, secure in the unyielding power of their muscles. 

 The observations of M. Fred. Cuvier, respecting the progressive movements 

 of the Orang, as noticed by himself, agree very closely with those which an 

 attention to the habits of the present living animal have suggested. (See 

 Annales du Museum, torn, xvi.) 



Though this animal was naturally and habitually dull and inanimate, 

 it had its times of sportiveness, when it readily engaged in play with those 

 to whom it was attached, following them to court their notice, or pursuing 

 them in mimic combat. Perhaps, indeed, there was a latent disposition in 

 it to attack those whom it deemed itself capable of overcoming. A young 

 gentleman pretended to be afraid, and retreated gradually before it, 

 whereon it perseveringly followed him for a considerable period, and gave 

 chase to him completely round the apartment ; but, when it found its 

 efforts vain, it waddled to its keeper, whom it evidently regarded as its 

 protector, and to whom it manifested the utmost attachment. The 



VOL. I. 3 G 



