248 ANTHROPOID APES. 



good while after the birth has taken place. The 

 young, which are slow in coming to maturity, live 

 long under the protection of their mother, who, 

 when she is climbing, carries her little ones in her 

 bosom, while they cling to her long, shaggy hair. 

 It is not yet ascertained at what age the orang 

 becomes capable of propagating his species, nor how 

 long the females continue to bring forth young. 



This animal is slow, phlegmatic, and has none of 

 the agility of the chimpanzee, nor even of the 

 gibbon. Hunger alone seems to prompt his actions, 

 and when appetite is appeased the animal relapses 

 into repose. In sitting, the back is so bent, and the 

 head so depressed, that the orang's eyes are directed 

 downwards to the earth. Sometimes he holds on 

 with his hands to the higher branches, but generally 

 his arms fall idly by his sides. In such positions 

 the orang will remain for hours in his place, almost 

 motionless, and only occasionally sending forth a 

 note of his deep, gruff voice. By day he is ac- 

 customed to go from one tree-top to another, and he 

 only comes down to- the ground at night. When 

 anything occurs to scare him, he conceals himself 

 in the underwood. When not hunted, he remains 

 long in one place, and indeed, for several days to- 

 gether on the same tree. He seldom passes the 

 night on a high tree, which he finds too cold and 

 windy, and when night approaches he scrambles 

 down to the lower and more sheltered parts, or to 

 the top of some low, leafy tree, such as the Nibong 

 palm, the pandanus, or the parasitic orchids which 

 are characteristic of the primeval forests of Borneo. 



