90 THE ORANG-OUTANGS, OR 



Henry Grofs informs us, vol. i. pag. 233. 

 That fome places towards the hills are covered 

 with immenfe impenetrable forefts, which afford 

 a flielter for wild beafts of all forts. But in 

 that which forms the inland boundary of the 

 Carnatic Rajah's dominions, there is one An- 

 gular fpecies of creatures, of which I had heard 

 much in India, and the truth of which the 

 following fa£t, that happened fome time before 

 my arrival there, may ferve for an atteflation. 



' Vancajee, a merchant of that country, and 

 an inhabitant on the fea coaft, fent up to Bom- 

 bay to the then governour of it, Mr Home, a 

 couple of thofe creatures before mentioned, as 

 a prefent, by a coafting veflel, of which one 

 Captain Boag was the mafter, and the make of 

 which, according to his defcription, and that of 

 others, was as follows. 



' They were fcarcely two feet high, walked 

 erett, and had perfectly a human form. They 

 were of a fallow white, without any hair, ex- 

 cept in thofe parts that it is cuftomary for man- 

 kind to have it. By their melancholy, they 

 feemed to have a rational fenfe of their capti- 

 vity, and had many of the human adions. 

 They made their bed very orderly in the cage 

 in which they were fent up, and on being view- 

 ed, would endeavour to conceal, with their 

 hands, thofe parts that modefty forbids mani- 

 fefting. The joints of their knees were not 

 re-entering, like thofe of monkeys, but faliant, 



like 



