558 WILD ANIMALS. 



of this species, named Tuan, belonging to Dr. Yvan, the physician 

 to the scientific mission sent by France to China many years ago, 

 caused some surprise by the sense many of his actions indicated. 

 " When Tuan was entrusted to me," ■writes Dr. Yvan in his book 

 "Voyages et Recits," ^ "he was about three years old. His 

 height was that of a child of three. Had it not been for his pro- 

 minent abdomen he would have resembled a young Malay, dressed 

 in some brown material, like our little sweeps. When I freed him 

 from the bamboo basket in which he was brought to me, he seized 

 hold of my hand, and tried to drag me away, as a little boy who 

 wanted to escape from some disagreeable object might have done. 

 I took him into my room, in which M. Dutroncoy had a sort of 

 cell prepared for him. On seeing this new cage, which resembled 

 a Malay house, Tuan understood that it was in future to be his 

 lodging. He let go my hand and set about collecting all the 

 linen he could find ; he then carried his booty into . his lodging, 

 and covered its walls carefully. These arrangements made, ^he 

 seized on a napkin, and having draped himself in this rag as 

 majestically as an Arab in his humous, lay down on the bed he 

 had prepared. 



" Tuan was of a very mild disposition ; to raise one's voice to 

 him was sufficient. Yet he now and then had very diverting fits 

 of anger. One day I took from him a mango he had stolen ; at 

 first he tried to get it back ; but being unable to do so he uttered 

 plaintive cries, thrusting out his lips like a pouting child. Find- 

 ing that this pettishness had not the success he anticipated, ho 

 threw himself flat on his face, struck the ground with his fist, 

 screamed, cried, howled for more than half an hour. At last I felt 

 that I was acting contrary to my duty in refusing the fruit he 

 desired. For, in opposition to God's will, I was seeking to 

 bend to the exigencies of our civilization the independent nature 

 which He had sent into the world amid virgin forests, in order 

 that it should obey all its instincts, and satisfy all its passions. 

 I approached my ward, calling him by the most endearing 

 names, and offered him the mango. As soon as it was within 



2 This work has been translated, and is entitled "Six Months among the Malays," 

 but the quotation given heiewith is from an article in the Westminster Review. 



