chap.it.] ERRORS OF MEASUREMENT. 99 



it to be one ; and we have therefore to judge whether it 

 is more probable that he made a mistake of two feet 

 in the stretch of the arms, or of one foot in the height. 

 The latter error is certainly the easiest to make, and it 

 will bring his animal into agreement, as to proportions 

 and size, with all those which exist in Europe. How easy 

 it is to be deceived in the height of these animals is well 

 shown in the case of the Sumatran Orang, the skin of 

 which was described by Dr. Clarke Abel. The captain 

 and crew who killed this animal declared, that when 

 alive he exceeded the tallest man, and looked so gigantic 

 that they thought he was 7 feet high ; but that, when he 

 was killed and lay upon the ground, they found he was 

 only about 6 feet. Now it will hardly be credited that 

 the skin of this identical animal exists in the Calcutta 

 Museum, and Mr. Blyth, the late curator, states " that 

 it is by no means one of the largest size ; " which means 

 that it is about 4 feet high ! 



Having these undoubted examples of error in the 

 dimensions of Orangs, it is not too much to conclude that 

 Mr. St. John's friend made a similar error of measurement, 

 or rather, perhaps, of memory ; for we are not told that 

 the dimensions were noted down at the time they were 

 made. The only figures given by Mr. St. John on his 

 own authority are that " the head was 15 inches broad 

 by 14 inches long." As my largest male was 13£ 



h 2 



