THE ORAN OTAIT. 4g 



lilfied by stamping with its foot on the ground. It 

 had been taught to dance ; and would at times cry- 

 like a child. While on board the vessel it frequent- 

 ly ran up the rigging, and played as many antics 

 aloft, to divert the company, as a rope-dancer. It 

 could leap with surprising agiLty and security from 

 one rope to another^ though fifteen or twenty feet 

 asunder *. 



We are told by Pyrard, that these animals are 

 found in Sierra Leona, where they are strong and 

 v/ell formed, and so industrious, that, when pro- 

 perly trained and fed, they work like servants : 

 That when ordered, they will pound any substances 

 in a mortar ; and that they are frequently sent to 

 fetch water from the rivers in small pitchers, which 

 they carry full on their heads; but, when they ar- 

 rive at the door of the dwelling, if these are not 

 soon taken off they suffer them to fall, and when 

 they perceive the pitcher overturned and broken 

 they utter aloud their lamentations -f-. Barbot says 

 also, that they are frequently rendered of use in the 

 settlements on the coast of Guinea, by being taught; 

 to turn the spit, and watch the roasting of meat, 

 which they perform with considerable dexterity and 

 address J. 



M. de la Brosse, who purchased from a Negro 

 two Oran Otans, remarks that they would sit at 

 table like men, and eat there every kind of food 

 without distinction. That they would use a knife. 



* History of China. t Voy. de Fran. Pyrard, inEuff. Quad. 



viii. 92. X Baibot, in CliurcliiU's CoK. v. 10 U 



Vol. J. E 



