Il6 HUXLEY 



that when the young males grow up a contest takes 

 place for mastery, and the strongest, by killing and 

 driving out the others, establishes himself as the head 

 of the community." l 



The Orang-utan is about four feet in height. Its 

 body is bulky and powerful, and reddish-brown in 

 colour, like that of the Malay native. The back-bone 

 is slightly curved ; the feet are longer than the hands, 

 and the arms reach to the ankles. Its brain approxi- 

 mates nearest of all the anthropoids to that of man in 

 structure and appearance. It is a slow and cautious 

 climber, but on all-fours it can, for a time, outstrip a 

 man in running. Like the gorilla, it defends itself 

 with its hands. It is wholly arboreal, making nests 

 for itself and family, the young remaining for some 

 time under the mother's protection. In reading Dr. 

 Alfred Russel Wallace's account of a baby orang- 

 utan, the late John Fiske was struck by the fact that 

 it had an infancy which is a great deal longer than 

 that of some lower mammals, but which was very 

 brief compared with that of the period of human in- 

 fancy. Twenty-five centuries ago Anaximander re- 

 marked that " while other animals quickly find food 

 for themselves, man alone requires a prolonged period 

 of suckling." Looking at this fact under the light of 

 evolution, the theory suggested itself to Mr. Fiske 

 1 Man's Place in Nature, p. 49. 



