AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



81 



Glancing in many a giddy maze, 

 O'er the green waters, merrily, 

 Speak not to me, thou bird of the billow, 

 Of a coral bed and wavy pillow. 



Through the wide ocean's vast expanse, 

 Where e'er the billow bursts in foam, 



These spectre birds lead on the dance, 

 And find in every wave a home. 



False Peterel farewell, thy tale's untrue, 

 Danger is past — our port is in view. 



HABITS AND MANNERS OF A FEMALE BORNEO ORANG- 

 UTAN, AND A MALE CHIMPANZEE. 



Br J. E. Warwick. 



The great interest and curiosity excited by the recent 

 exhibition of the Chimpanzee and the Borneo Orang- 

 utan; and a suggestion which has been made to me, that 

 the opportunity I possessed of being constantly with them 

 should be made productive of some result, have induced 

 me to mark and note down the manners and dispositions 

 of these interesting specimens of the animal kingdom; and 

 I now submit the following, in the hope that it may be 

 acceptable to many of your readers, very few of whom, 

 probably, have ever seen the animals whose singular ha- 

 bits I am here attempting to describe. 



On the first sight of the two specimens, the difference 

 was so remarkable as almost to excite a doubt whether 

 they belonged to the same genus. The most striking 

 points of distinction were the length of the facial angle in 

 the female, or Borneo Orang (Simia Sdtyrus ;) the singular 

 smallness of the ear, and its close resemblance to that of 

 the human species; the pear-shaped head; the nose but in 

 a slight degree elevated; the nostrils narrow and oblique; 

 the extreme length of the arms, the use made of them in 

 walking, the animal resting the hands on the ground, and 

 swinging as if on crutches; the hair of a reddish brown, 

 very short, and but slightly scattered over the body; the 

 abdomen exceedingly protuberant; the feet long, with the 

 largest toe peculiarly short, but exhibiting a perfect nail; 

 these were the striking peculiarities on the first sight of 

 the female; while the Chimpanzee (Simia Troglodytes) 

 exhibited a marked contrast in the general character of 

 its form, presenting a much nearer approach to that of the 

 human race. Its conformation comprises all those points 

 of resemblance which characterise the Orang-Utan, be- 

 sides other instances of approximation which in that ani- 

 mal are not observable. The form of the head, the intel- 

 lectual superiority that distinguishes the cast of the fea- 

 tures; the proportionate length of arm to that of the body; 

 the larger and perfect thumb; the roundness of the thigh; 



X 



the perfect feet, and the consequent upright mode of 

 walking; the complete formation of the last joint of the 

 great toe; the quality of the sounds which it occasionally 

 utters; — all these are points which at once strike the 

 observer, denoting the superiority of the Chimpanzee 

 over the Borneo Orang-Utan, as well as the widely differ- 

 ent characters that distinguish them. 



I must here confess myself unable to give you a scienti- 

 fic description of the animal: it is simply my intention to 

 detail some of those peculiarities and habits, which few 

 but myself have had an opportunity of observing. 



On the occasion of their introduction to each other, it 

 was curious to notice in what way they would act; not 

 having seen any of their class for many months, and being 

 so distinct in character, and natives of different quarters of 

 the globe. On their being placed on the floor together in 

 a private apartment, they stood at some distance from each 

 other, resting on their knuckles, in evident contempla- 

 tion of the new form they now saw for the first time. 

 They then approached nearer, smelling each other very 

 sensibly; the female protruded her prominent lower 

 lip, touching the lip of the male, but without any smack or 

 noise. This was done apparently without any expression 

 of joy or mutual attachment, but merely as an act of re- 

 cognition of two of the same tribe meeting in a foreign 

 land; nor was I ever afterwards able to discover the least 

 sign of tenderness or attachment to each other; but, on the 

 contrary, a decided inclination to keep aloof, especially on 

 the part of the female, whose timidity allowed the male to 

 take from her hands any dainty that might have been 

 given to her, with great reluctance on her part, but with 

 evident fear of repelling the insult. On the experiment 

 being tried of forcing them to sleep in the same cage, a 

 battle took place, of which it was not afterwards deemed 

 advisable to risk a repetition. 



The companionable and sociable habits of the Chimpan- 

 zee far exceeded those of the female, as did his knowledge 

 of persons whom he was in the habit of seeing. On first 

 approaching him on a morning, or after being absent from 

 him a short time, he would utter a loud cry of recognition; 

 and, running towards you, would stand perfectly erect, 

 spreading his arms to be taken up, when he would put 

 them round your neck in the manner of the fondest em- 

 brace; nor was it an easy task, for those to whom he was 

 attached, to leave the room, except by stealth. Food, on 

 the other hand, was the only object that would cause any 

 attachment, or even locomotion, in the female; of whom 

 it might be said, that her appetite was the mainspring of 

 all her actions, to which a protuberance and rotundity 

 bore ample testimony. In feeding, the greediness of the 

 female was evinced by her laying her body over the dish, 



