492 OS..VNG GUTANG 



it will afterwards be seen that it was probably about seven. In the follow- 

 ing description, which I give in the words of my informant many of my read- 

 ers will detect some of those external conformations which distinguish the 

 young eastern OrangOutangs that have been seen in Europe. The only part 

 of the description in which the imagination seems to have injured the fidelity 

 of the portrait, regards the prominence of the nose and size of the eyes, nei- 

 ther of which are verified by the integuments of the animal's head which 

 are represented in Plate I. " The animal was nearly eight feet high and had 

 a well proportioned body, with a fine broad expanded chest and narrow 

 waist. His head also was in due proportion to his body ; the eyes were large, 

 the nose prominent and the mouth much more capacious than the mouth of 

 man. His chin was fringed from the extremity of one ear to the other, with 

 a beard that curled neatly on each side, and formed altogether an ornamental 

 rather than a frightful appendage to his visage. His arms were very long even 

 in proportion to his height, and in relation to the arms of men; but his legs 

 were in some respects much shorter. His organs of generation were not very 

 conspicuous, and seemed to be small in proportion to his size. The hair of 

 his coat was smooth and glossy when he was first killed, and his teeth and 

 appearance altogether indicated that he was young and in the full possession 

 of his physical powers. Upon the whole," adds his Biographer, " he was a 

 wonderful beast to behold, and there was more in him to excite amazement 

 than fear." 



That this animal shewed great tenacity of life is evident from his surviv- 

 ing so many dreadful wounds, and his peculiarity in this respect seems to 

 have been a subject of intense surprise to all his assailants. In reference to 

 this point it may be proper to remark, that after he had been carried on board 

 ship and was hauled up for the purpose of being skinned, the first stroke of 

 the knife on the skin of the arm produced an instantaneous vibration of its 

 muscles, followed by a convulsive contraction of the whole member. A like 

 quivering of the muscles occurred when the knife was applied to the skin of 

 the back, and so impressed Capt. Cornfoot with a persuasion that the animal 



