THE ORAN OTAN'. 4f 



very v/llllngly drank all sorts of wine, and particu- 

 larly Malaga. After drinking, it wiped its lips ; 

 and after eating, if presented with a tooth-pick, 

 would use it in a proper manner. I was assured, 

 (continues this writer,) that on ship-board it ran 

 freely about the vessel, played with the sailors, 

 and would go, like them, into the kitchen for its mess. 

 At the approach of night it lay down to sleep, and 

 prepared its bed, by shaking well the hay, on which 

 it slept, and putting it in proper order ; and, lastly, 

 covering itself warm with the coverlet. One day, 

 seeing the padlock of its chain opened with a key, 

 and shut again, it seized a little bit of stick, and 

 put it into the key hole, turning it about in all di- 

 rections, endeavouring to see whether the padlock 

 would open or not. This animal lived seven months 

 in Holland. On its fust arrival it had but very 

 little hair, except on its back and arms : but on the 

 approach of winter it became extremely well-cover- 

 ed ; the hair on the back being three inches in length. 

 The whole animal then appeared of a chesnut co- 

 lour ; the skin of the face, &c. was of a mouse co- 

 lour, but about the eyes and round the moutli of a 

 dull flesh colour." It came from the island of Bor-. 

 neo, and, after its death, was deposited in the mu- 

 seum of the Piince orOran2;e *. 



The Oran Otan, which the Comte de BufFon saw, 

 walked always on two feet, even when carrying 

 ■j;hings of considerable weight. His iur was melan- 



Shaw's Gen. Zool. i. 7. 



