THE OUEANG-OUTANG. 555 



tliis fruit, the outer covering of -wliicli is so thick and tough, and 

 closely covered with strong conical spines. It probably bites off 

 a few of these first, and then, making a small hole, tears open the 

 fruit with its powerful fingers. 



" The mias rarely descends to the ground, except when, pressed 

 by hunger, it seeks for succulent shoots by the river side, or in 

 very dry weather has to search after water, of which it generally 

 finds sufficient in the hollows of leaves. Once only I saw two 

 half -grown orangs on the ground in a dry hollow at the foot of the 

 Simunjon hill. They were playing together, standing erect, and 

 grasping each other by the arms. It may be safely stated, how- 

 ever, that the orang never walks erect, unless when using its 

 hands to support itself by branches overhead, or when attacked. 

 Representations of its walking with a stick are entirely imaginary. 



" The Dyaks all declare that the mias is never attacked by any 

 animal in the forest, with two rare exceptions ; and the accounts 

 I received of these are so curious that I give them nearly in the 

 words of my informants, old Dyak chiefs, who had lived all their 

 lives in the places where the animal is most abundant. The first 

 of whom I inquired said : ' No animal is strong enough to hurt 

 the mias, and the only creature he ever fights with is the 

 crocodile. When there is no fruit in the jungle, he goes to seek 

 food on the banks of the river, where there are plenty of young 

 shoots that he likes, and fruits that grow close to the water. 

 Then the crocodile sometimes tries to seize him, but the mias 

 gets upon him and beats him with his hands and feet, and tears 

 him and kills him.' He added that he had once seen such a fight, 

 and that he believes that the mias is always the victor. 



"My next informant was the Orang Kaya, or Chief of the 

 Balow Dyaks, on the Simunjon river. He said : ' The mias has 

 no enemies ; no animal dare attack it but the crocodile and the 

 python. He always kills the crocodile by main strength, stand- 

 ing upon it, pulling open its jaws, and ripping up its throat. If 

 a python attacks a mias, he seizes it with his hands, and then 

 bites it, and soon kills it. The mias is very strong ; there is no 

 animal in the jungle so strong as he.' " 



The forests where the ourangs abound being easier of access. 



