THE OURA.NG-OUTANG. 557 



exhibited have all shown patient and docile dispositions; but it is 

 surmised, no doubt correctly, that if they had lived to maturity 

 their characters would have undergone a considerable alteration 

 for the worse, for when their muscular power is fully developed, 

 their great strength makes them formidable, and they become 

 dangerously mischievous. 



In 1864 two young ourangs were dwellers in the Eegent's Park 

 menagerie. Frank Bucklaud, who took great interest in them, 

 often refers to these little apes in the articles he contributed to 

 the journals he was connected with. In the Field for 1864, he 

 writes : " These orangs were captured in Borneo, taken thence to 

 Calcutta, and from thence shipped to London, where they were 

 purchased at a heavy sum by the Zoological Society. They 

 are lady and gentleman. The former rejoices in the name of 

 ' Susan ' and the latter in that of ' George.' When they first 

 arrived at the gardens they wore a costume — simplicity itself — 

 composed of coarse flannel, of decided Borneo manufacture, and in 

 this garment they really looked the very picture of ragged rascals. 

 Mr. Bartlett has, however, given each a handsome red-flannel 

 garibaldi jacket, of which they seem not a little proud, especially 

 the lady, who, in her new costume, is almost 



' As beautiful as a butterfly 

 And as proud as a queen.' 



George, the male, is much the smaller of the two, and is covered 

 with ragged red hair, worn ofE in patches, so that he looks 

 uncommonly like an animated door-mat. The features of both 

 these creatures are a strange combination of beauty and ugliness. 

 Susan's head is as bald and as smooth as a baby's, and her 

 features are hke those of a decrepit child, with the sharp, 

 piercing, jet-black eyes of a hideous and savage Bushwoman. 

 When they walk, these apes use their very long fore-arms as 

 supports to their weight, and in this attitude remind one of a 

 bandy-legged old man, walking round the workhouse yard on 



crutches." 



The young ourang-outang displays considerable intelligence 

 when it is brought into contact with men. An account of a pet 



