ORAN OTAN. O 



imitate the company in which it was placed : to 

 pour out tea, and drink it without aukwardness or 

 constraint ; to prepare its bed with great exact- 

 ness,, and compose itself to sleep in a proper man- 

 ner. Such are the actions recorded of one which 

 was exhibited in London in the year 1738; and 

 the Count de Buffon relates nearly similar parti- 

 culars of that which he saw at Paris. Dr. Tyson, 

 who,, about the close of the last century, gave a 

 very exact description of a young Oran Otan, then 

 exhibited in the metropolis, assures us, that, in 

 many of its actions, it seemed to display a very 

 high degree of sagacity, and was of a disposition 

 uncommonly gentle • The most gentle and loving 

 creature that could be. Thofe that he knew a ship- 

 board he would come and embrace with the greatest 

 tenderness, opening their bosoms, and clasping his 

 hands about them ; and, as I was informed, though 

 there were Monkies aboard, yet it was observed he 

 would never associate with them, and, as if nothing 

 akin to them, would always avoid their company. 



But however docile and gentle when taken 

 young, and instructed in its behaviour, it is said 

 to be possessed of great ferocity in its native state, 

 and is considered as a dangerous animal, capable 

 of readily overpowering the strongest man. Its 

 swiftness is equal to its strength, and for this rea- 

 son it is but rarely to be obtained in its full-grown 

 state ; the young alone being taken. A few years 

 past, the hand of a supposed full-grown oran otan 

 was brought from Sierra Leona, which, from its 

 size, seemed to justify the idea of the stature to 



