LECTURE II. 37 



This numerous race, consisting of the different 

 ' kinds of Apes, Baboons, and Monkeys, has in all 

 ages extorted from the philosopher and the mo- 

 ralist, sentences expressive either of complaint or 

 admiration. 



The chief of the tribe, or the Oran Otan, has 

 been often studiously held up as not only making 

 a nearer approach to the general figure of Man- 

 kind than any other animal, but even as possessing 

 a degree of intellect superior to the rest of the 

 animal world ; and a variety of exaggerated descrip- 

 tions might be cited from those vi^ho have given 

 its natural history. Two very distinct species of 

 Oran Otan are known: the one a native of Africa^ 

 and of a black colour; the other a native ©f the 

 East Indies, and of a reddish or chesnut colour. 

 It is to these that most of the popular tales relate. 

 But the two species, distinct as they are, have been 

 till lately confounded by most authors, and among 

 others by Linnaeus, under the title of Simia Sa- 

 tyrus. The species v/hich makes the nearest ap- 

 proach to the human figure, is the chesnut-coloured 

 or reddish Oran Otan, well represented in the 

 works of Vosmaer and Audebert. It is also 

 figured by Edwards. The general fault of the 



