162 Foreign Literature and Science. 



they are not common to the brute creation, are deemed the 

 results of tuition. 



The Orang Outang which is the subject of the present 

 article, was discovered on the north coast of Sumatra, by a 

 party from the Mary Anne Sophia, Capt. Cornfoot, landed 

 there for the purpose of watering. When the animal made 

 its appearance, it seemed as if it had come from some dis- 

 tance ; and to all appearance, it had been walking through 

 a swamp, its legs, up to the knees, being muddy. Its gait 

 was slovenly, and as it went, it waddled from side to side. 

 Captain Cornfoot dwells much upon the human like expres- 

 sion of his countenance, and especially on the beautiful ar- 

 rangement of his beard. He also obliged me with some ac- 

 count of his capture, as reported to him by his officers, and 

 feelingly described the piteous action of the animal on being 

 wounded, and its apparent tenacity of life. It seems that, 

 on the spot where this animal was killed, were five or six 

 trees, which occasioned his hunters great trouble in procur- 

 ing their prey ; for in consequence of the extreme agility, 

 and power of the animal in springing from branch to branch, 

 and bounding from one tree to another, his pursuers could 

 not fix their aim, until they had cut down all the trees but 

 one. When thus limited in his range, the Orang Outang 

 was shot, but did not die till he had received five balls and 

 the thrust of a spear. One of the first balls probably pene- 

 trated his lungs, as he immediately after the infliction of the 

 wound, slung himself by his feet from a branch, with his 

 head downwards, and allowed the blood to flow from his 

 mouth. On receiving a wound, he always put his hand up- 

 on the wounded part, and distressed his pursuers by the hu- 

 man like agony of his expression. After the fifth shot, it 

 climbed a tree and reclined against its boughs to all appear- 

 ance in great pain, and vomited a considerable quantity of 

 blood. When on the ground, after being exhausted by his 

 many wounds, he lay as if dead, with his head resting on his 

 folded arms. It was at this moment, that an officer attempt- 

 ed to give the coup de grace, by pushing a spear through his 

 body, but he immediately jumped on his feet, wrested the 

 weapon from his antagonist, and shivered it in pieces. This 

 was his second, and last great exertion ; yet he lived some 

 time afterwards, and drank, it is stated, large quantities of 

 water. 



