OF SUMATRA. 493 



retained his sensibility, that he ordered the process of skinning to stop till 

 the head had been removed. 



It seems probable that this animal had travelled from some distance, to 

 the place where he was found, as his legs were covered with mud up to the 

 knees, and he was considered as great a prodigy by the natives as by the Eu- 

 ropeans. They had never before met with an animal like him, although they 

 lived within two days journey of one of the vast and almost impenetrable 

 forests of Sumatra. They seemed to think that his appearance accounted for 

 many strange noises, resembling screams and shouts, and various sounds, 

 which they could neither attribute to the roar of the tyger, nor to the voice 

 of any other beast with which they were familiar. What capability the great 

 Orang O'utang may possess of uttering such sounds does not appear, but 

 this belief of the Malays may lead to the capture of other individuals of his 

 species, and to the discovery of more interesting particulars of his confor- 

 mation and habits. 



The only material discrepancy which I can detect in the different ac- 

 counts which have been given of this animal, regards his height which in 

 some of them is vaguely stated at from above six feet to nearly eight. Capt. 

 Cornfoot however, who favored me with a verbal description of the animal 

 when brought on board his ship, stated that " he was a full head taller than 

 any man on board, measuring seven feet in what might be called his ordi- 

 nary standing posture, and eight feet when suspended for the purpose of 

 being skinned." 



The following measurements which I have carefully made of different 



• 



parts of the animal in the Society's museum, go far to determine this point 

 and are entirely in favor of Capt. Cornfoot's accuracy. The skin of the 

 body of the animal dried and shrivelled as it is, measures in a straight line 

 from the top of the shoulder to the part where the ancle has been removed 

 5 feet 10 inches, the perpendicular length of the neck as it is in the prepara* 



