CHAPTER XIV 



Different Species of Orang-utan — Their Habitat, Food, etc. — 

 Peculiarities and Habits — The Sumatran Orang — An Orang 

 Fcetus — Borneo and the Precursors of Man — Adaptation to 

 Environment — -Variability of Species — A New Theory of Evolu- 

 tion — Conditions Necessary for the Evolution of Man and the 

 Anthropoids — The Humanization of the Anthropoids — The Place 

 of Origin of Man. 



DURING my absence at the lakes Atzon, my skilful Chinese 

 hunter, had prepared three skeletons of orangs according to 

 the instructions I had given him ; namely, roughly cleaning the bones 

 of the flesh, leaving them all attached by the ligaments, and drying 

 them at once at a slow fire. In this way putrefaction and bad 

 smells are prevented, and the operation can be easily performed 

 anywhere. Lastly, to insure against insects and other animal 

 pests who might gnaw the ligaments, the bones are carefully 

 painted over with a thick layer of arsenical soap. Of the skeletons 

 thus prepared one was that of a young female ; one of a male Mayas 

 Tj aping, slightly larger than the one whose skin I had pre- 

 viously prepared ; and the third was also a specimen of the latter 

 race, but its sagittal crest was less developed in height, and 

 shorter, although wider, than in the other specimens I had of its 

 kind. I should thus have supposed that the last skeleton was that 

 of a female, but Atzon was positive that it was that of a male, 

 and one with very long hair. 



This was the last specimen of orang-utan which I got at Marop. 

 All told, I had got either the entire skeletons or portions of twenty- 

 four individuals. Later, Atzon brought me several other heads 

 of Mayas Tjaping from the same district. But with all this 

 I came away from Marop without having been able to solve 

 the doubts I had regarding the species or races of orang-utan. 

 Moreover, I was not able to ascertain with certainty whether the 

 adult female Mayas Tjaping can occasionally develop the 

 lateral expansions of the cheeks which are so characteristic in the 

 adult male, or whether she is always without them. But the fact 

 remained that amongst the many Mayas which I had been able 

 to examine not a single female presented the slightest trace of such 

 cheek-expansions. Wallace, too, before me appears to have had 



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