310 ON THE 



ape is about that of a small terrier; the one 

 captured, was as large as a Newfoundland dog. 

 He was extremely wild and untractaMe, and 

 bore every mark of very advanced old age; his 

 body being quite emaciated, nearly the whole of 

 his teeth gone, and the hair of his head had be- 

 come scanty and quite grey. Why these animals 

 should thus be confined to one spot in Europe, 

 naturalists have never been able to decide ; 

 though, from their prevalence upon Mount Ab- 

 dyla, on the opposite coast of Africa, (fami- 

 liarly known by the name of Apes Hill,) it has 

 been conjectured that they were either brought 

 over from thence by the Moors, at the time of 

 their invading Europe, and afterwards become 

 naturalized to the rock ; or, that the two moun- 

 tains, 1 denominated by the ancients, the Pillars 

 of Hercules, must, at some former period, have 

 been united. 



The Ourang Outang,, now to be described, 

 from having no tail, and from other resenablan- 

 ces, may be considered a variety of the ape spe- 

 cies. But its history, from defective information, 

 more particularly of the animal in the adult 

 state, is involved in so much uncertainty, that 

 even at the present day, it is extremely doubtful, 

 whether it has been properly identified as a dis- 

 tinct species, or whether it ought only to be 

 considered a variety of the common ape. This 

 is partly to be attributed to the systematic writer 



