220 THE ORAN-OTANG. 
prised at the sight of the animal as the crew 
of the ship; for they had never seen an Oran- 
Otang before, though they lived within two 
days’ journey of the Coast and unpenetrated 
forests of the interior. They set about to 
fell the tree upon which, in an exhausted 
state, it was now reclining; but the moment 
it found the tree unsteady, it put forth its 
remaining strength, and gained, first a second 
tree, and next a third, until it was finally 
brought to the ground, and forced into com- 
bat with its merciless foes, who now gathered 
quickly about it, and discharged spears and 
other missiles. The first spear, made of a 
very strong supple wood, which would have 
resisted the strength of the strongest man, 
broke into two, as if it had been a carrot ; 
and had it not, now, been almost in a dying 
state, its assailants would have been in great 
peril of their lives. He fell, at length, under 
innumerable stabs inflicted by the people. 
The Oran-Otang was supposed by those 
that killed it, to have travelled some distance 
to the place where it was found; for its 
legs were covered with mud up to the knees. 
Its hands and feet had great analogy to 
human hands and feet, only that the thumbs 
