Ates.'I 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



27 



been shot states that "trees are ascended by the 

 chimpanzees (as he is led to conclude) only for 

 food and observation." From the natives he learned 

 thai " they do not reach their full growth till be- 

 tween nine and ten years of age, winch, if true, 

 brings them extremely near the human species, as 

 the boy or girl of West. Africa, at thirteen or four- 

 teen years old. is quite as much a man or woman 

 as those of nineteen or twenty in our more northern 

 clime. Their height, when full grown, is said to be 

 between four or five feet; indeed I was credibly 

 informed that a male chimpanzee, which had been 

 shot in the neighbourhood and brought into Free 

 Town, measured four feet five inches in length, and 

 was so heavy as to form a very fair load for two 

 men, who carried him on a pole between them. 

 The natives say that in their wild state their strength 

 is enormous, and that they have seen them snap 

 bouerhs off the trees with the greatest apparent 

 ease, which the united strength of two men could 

 scarcely bend. The chimpanzee is, without doubt, 

 to be found in all the countries from the banks of 

 the Gambia in the north to the kingdom of Congo 

 in the south, as the natives of all the intermediate 

 parts seem to be perfectly acquainted with them. 

 From my own experience I can state that the low 

 shores of the Bullom country, situated on the 

 northern shores of the river Sierra Leone, are in- 

 fested by them in numbers quite equal to the com- 

 monest species of monkey. I consider these ani- 

 mals to be gregarious, for when visiting the rice 

 farms of the chief Dalla Mohammadoo, on the Bul- 

 lom shore, their cries plainly indicated the vicinity 

 of a troop, as the noise heard could not have been 

 produced by less than eight or ten of them. The 

 natives also affirmed that they always travel m 

 strong bodies, armed with sticks, which they use 

 with much dexterity. They are exceedingly watch- 

 ful, and the first one who discovers the approach of 

 a stranger utters a protracted cry, much resembling 

 that of a human being in the greatest distress. The 

 first time I heard it I was much, startled ; the ani- 

 mal was apparently not more than thirty paces dis- 

 tant, but had it been but five I could not have seen 

 it from the tangled nature of the jungle, and I cer- 

 tainly conceived that such sounds could only have 

 proceeded from a human being who hoped to gain 

 assistance by his cries from some terrible and instant 

 death. The native who was with me laid his hand 

 upon my shoulder, and pointing suspiciously to the 

 bush, said, ' Massa,, Baboo live there,' and in a few 

 minutes the wood appeared alive with them, their 

 cries resembling the barking of dogs. My guide 

 informed me that the cry first heard was to inform 

 the troop of my approach, and that they would all 

 immediately leave the trees or any exalted situation 

 that might expose them to view, and seek the bush ; 

 he also showed evident fear, and entreated me not 

 to proceed any farther in that direction. The 

 plantations of bananas, papaws, and plantains, 

 which the natives usually intermix with their rice, 

 constituting the favourite food of the chimpanzees, 

 accounts for their being so frequent in the neigh- 

 bourhood of rice-fields. The difficulty of procuring 

 live specimens of this genus arises principally, I 

 should say, from the superstitions of the natives 

 concerning them, who believe they possess the 

 power of ' witching.' 



" There are authors who have, I believe, affirmed 

 that some of the natives on the western coast term 

 these animals in their language ' Pongos :' but I 

 beg leave to differ with them as to ' Pongos ' being 

 a native term. The Portuguese formerly monopo- 

 lized the trade of the coast, and had large posses- 

 sions there, as well as in the East Indies, most of 

 the capes, rivers, &c. bearing the names they gave 

 them to this day. Now * Pongos' I look upon to 

 be a Portuguese East Indian term for a tailless 

 monkey, and" in consequence of their discovering a 

 river in Africa the banks of which were inhabited 

 by vast numbers of this species, they called it ' Rio 

 Pongos,' a name which it bears still. This I con- 

 ceive to be the origin of the term, whilst on the 

 coast I observed that all the natives in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Sierra Leone, when speaking of this 

 animal, invariably called him 'Baboo,' a corruption, 

 I should suppose^ of our term Baboon." (' Proceed. 

 Zool. Soc.,' 1839.) 



Within the last few years several young chim- 

 panzees have been brought to this country, but 

 none have long survived. Their human-like appear- 

 ance, their intelligence and confiding manners, 

 together with their activity, have attracted great 

 interest and given rise to many narrations. Figs. 

 121 and 124 were taken from an individual which 

 lived in the menagerie of the Zoological Society 

 from September, 1835, to September, 1836. Its 

 docility and gentleness were remarkable ; but it is 

 well known that the gentleness which characterises 

 the young of all the ape tribe gives place, as matu- 

 rity advances, to " unteachable obstinacy and un- 

 tanieable ferocity ;" and from what we know of the 

 Chimpanzee in its wild state, we have reason to 



conclude that the young;, however docile they are, 

 would become savage and distrustful as they' grew 

 up, even in caplivity, and thus form no exception 

 to the rule. The following description was taken 

 from the VOUng individual alluded to : — 



General figure short and stout; chest broad; 

 shoulders square; abdomen protuberant ; forehead 

 retreating behind the supraorbital ridge, the cra- 

 nium otherwise well developed; nose flat; nostrils 

 divided by a very thin septum; lips extremely 

 mobile, and traversed by vertical wrinkles; ears 

 large, naked, and prominent; eyes lively, deep-set, 

 and chestnut coloured ;. neck short; arms slender, 

 but muscular, and reaching, when the animal 

 stands erect as possible, just "below the knee: all 

 the four hands well developed, with opposable 

 thumbs ; the nails human-like ; the hair moderately 

 coarse and straight, longest and fullest, on the head, 

 down the back, and on "the arms, thin on the chest 

 and abdomen ; on the fore-arm it is reverted to the 

 elbow ; backs of hands naked to the wrist ; muzzle 

 sprinkled with short white hairs ; skin of the face 

 dusky black; ears and palms tinged with a pur- 

 plish hue ; hair glossy black : total height, two feet. 

 The lower limbs are less decidedly organized for 

 arboreal habits than in the orang ; but their tournure 

 is obliquely inwards, the knees being bowed out, 

 but the soles of the feet are capable of being applied 

 fairly to the ground. It runs about with a "hobbling 

 gait, but very quickly, generally assisting itself by 

 resting the knuckles 'of the two first fingers of the 

 hand on the ground, to do which it stoops its shoul- 

 ders forwards : it can, however, and does walk fre- 

 quently upright. Its pace is a sort of waddle, and 

 not performed as in man, by a series of steps in 

 which the ankle-joint is brought into play at each 

 successive step, the heel being elevated and the 

 body resting on the toes ; on the contrary, the foot 

 is raised at once and set down at once, in a 

 thoroughly plantigrade manner, as in stamping, 

 which indeed is an action it often exhibits, first 

 with one foot, then with the other. It grasps with 

 its feet, which are broad and strong, with astonish- 

 ing firmness, and has been seen, while resting on a 

 perch, to throw itself completely backwards, and, 

 without using its hands, raise itself again into its 

 previous position, a feat requiring both great power 

 and agility. 



In the mutilated skin of an adult we found grey 

 hairs mixed with the black, especially on the lower 

 part of the back, the haunches, and thighs, these 

 parts having a grizzled appearance. 



122, 123, 124, 125, 126.— The Orang-outan 

 (Pithecus Satyrus, Geoffr.). So different are the 

 characters, dependent upon age, which the Orang- 

 outan assumes at different periods of its growth, and 

 so much in many respects do the malesdiffer from 

 the females, that no little confusion has arisen; and 

 the young, which is the Simia Satyrus of Linnaeus, 

 has only recently been proved to be identical with 

 the Asiatic Pongo (this word is now restricted to 

 the orang) ; the latter, as Cuvier suspected, and 

 indeed asserted, and as Professor Owen has proved, 

 being the adult. (See Trans. Zool.. Soc, vol. i., 

 ' Osteology of Chimpanzee and Orang.') 



The difference which the skull assumes in figure, 

 and the relative proportions of the cranial and 

 facial parts, during the transition from youth to 

 maturity, is indeed extraordinary ; and so great is 

 the amount of variation ultimately, that the errors 

 of naturalists who had no opportunities of examin- 

 ing a series of crania, of different ages, up to matu- 

 rity, may well be pardoned. Fig. 117 is the skull 

 of an adult orang, remarkable for the development 

 of the facial portion, the breadth and strength of the 

 lower jaw, the deep cranial ridges, or crests, the 

 contraction of the forehead, and the flattening of the 

 occiput ; the strength of the teeth, and the enor- 

 mous size of the canines. Totally different is the 

 general form and appearance of the skull of the 

 young. 



In Borneo there are two species of orang ; one of 

 large size, and dreaded by the natives (Pithecus 

 Wormbii, or Pongo Wormbii), the other of small 

 size, recently characterized by Professor Owen from 

 a skull. This species (Pithecus Morio) has been 

 subsequently verified. It is timid and gentle. 



It would appear that a distinct species, of large 

 size, distinct from the great Bornean orang, exists 

 in Sumatra. Some naturalists, it is true, are dis- 

 posed to regard the Bornean and Sumatran large 

 orangs as identical, and it. must be allowed that 

 some difficulty exists which remains to be cleared 

 up. Professor Owen has pointed out certain diffe- 

 rences in the contour of their respective shells, 

 which seem to justify those who contend for a dis- 

 tinction of species. In the adult male Bornean 

 orang (fig. 125) there are huge callosities, or pro- 

 tuberances of callous flesh on the cheek-bones, 

 giving a strange aspect to the countenance, and 

 which are presumed to be absent in the Sumatran 

 orang (Pithecus Abellii). They are certainly not 



depicted in Dr. Abel's figure of the head of the 

 adult Sumatran orang fn>. 127) ; still, as figures are 

 often faulty, and the "adult male Sumatran animal 

 remains to be examined, the point is undecided. 

 With respect to difference of colour, little stress can 

 be laid upon it : the Sumatran species is said to 

 be of a much lighter colour than the Bornean ; but 

 all the Bornean orangs we have examined (and 

 those not a few) have been of a chestnut colour, or 

 bright sandy rufous passing into a chestnut on the 

 back, and scarcely, if at all, darker than the Suma- 

 tran adult female in the collection of the Zoological 

 Society. 



The Sumatran animal is said to exceed the Bor- 

 nean in stature. According to Dr. Abel the male 

 orang killed at Ramboon on the north-west coast 

 of Sumatra exceeded seven feet in stature — a singu- 

 lar exaggeration, as is now allowed. In the span of 

 the arms and hands, this animal, he states, measured 

 8 feet 2 inches ; and in the length of the foot, 14 

 inches. Now in the specimen of a Sumatran female 

 in the collection of the Zoological Society, which 

 could not have stood higher than 3 feet 6 inches, 

 the span of the arms and hands is 7 feet 2 inches, 

 and the length of the foot 10 inches and a half. 

 That the Sumatran orang does not exceed the Bor- 

 nean may therefore be safely concluded. The 

 largest Bornean male orang, an adult, with large 

 facial callosities, which we ever examined measured 

 4 feet 6 inches from head to heel ; but Temminck, in 

 his monograph of the genus, says, "Our travellers in- 

 form us by letters from Bangarmasing, in the island 

 of Borneo, that they have recently procured orangs 

 of 5 feet 3 inches in height, French measure " (5 

 feet 9 inches English). In both the Bornean and 

 Sumatran specimens the ungueal or nail-bearing 

 phalanx of the hind thumb is sometimes absent, 

 sometimes present, in both sexes ; sometimes it is 

 present on one foot, and wanting on the other. 



Description of a nearly adult male orang from 

 Borneo, in the Paris Museum : — The head is large, 

 the forehead naked, retiring and flat ; large fleshy 

 callosities in the form of somewhat crescentic ridges 

 occupy the malar bones, extending from the tem- 

 ples and giving a singular and even hideous expres- 

 sion to the physiognomy. The eyes are small and 

 set closely together; the nose is depressed; the 

 septum of the nostrils thin, and carried out to blend 

 with the skins of the upper lip; the nostrils are 

 oblique ; the lips are thick and fleshy, and the 

 upper one is furnished with scanty moustaches ; the 

 chin is furnished with a long and peaked beard. 

 The hair is very long and thick on the back, shoul- 

 ders, arms, and legs ; very scanty on the chest, ab- 

 domen, and inside of the thighs ; the hair of the 

 fore-arms is reverted to the elbows ; the hair of the 

 head is directed forwards from a common centre of 

 radiation on the back of the neck, or rather between 

 the shoulders. The contour of the body is heavy, 

 thick, and ill-shapen ; the arms with the hands 

 reach to the heel ; the thumbs of the hind feet are 

 nailless ; the general colour is deep chestnut. Total 

 height, 3 feet 8 inches. Breadth of face across the 

 callosities, 9 inches. 



The organization of the orang (we refer to both 

 Bornean and Sumatran animals) fits him almost ex- 

 clusively for arboreal habits : on the ground his 

 progression is more awkward than that of the Chim- 

 panzee ; for the abbreviation of the posterior limbs, 

 their inward tournure, their pliancy, owing to the 

 absence of the ligamentum teres of the hip-joint, 

 and the. mode of treading, not upon the sole, but the 

 outer edge of the foot, tend all to his disadvantage. 

 Among the trees, however, the case is reversed. In 

 the mighty forests of his native climates he is free 

 and unembarrassed, though by no means rapid in 

 his movements : there, the vast reach of his sinewy 

 arms enables him to seize branches at an apparently 

 hopeless distance; and by the powerful grasp of his 

 hands or feet he swings himself along. In ascend- 

 ing a tall tree, the inward tournure of the legs and 

 ankle-joints, and the freedom of the hip-joint, facili- 

 tate the application of the grasping foot, as is well 

 depicted in figure 124, a sketch taken from a 

 living subject. The length and narrowness of the 

 hands and feet render them hook-like in character ; 

 while the short thumbs, set as tar back toward the 

 wrist as possible, act as a fulcrum against, the pres- 

 sure of the fingers while grasping the branch to 

 which the animal is clinging. 



The difference between the human foot and that 

 of the orang (fig. 128) is very marked ; the arrange- 

 ment of the bones, muscles, and muscular tendons 

 being modified in each for a different purpose. 

 Yet there have been men of learning who have 

 contended that in the course of time, by use, the 

 foot of the orang might assume the form and pro- 

 portions of the human, and the human that of the 

 orang. Such opinions are beneath criticism. 



The physiognomy of the orang is grave, melan- 

 choly, and even apathetic, but in adults not unac- 

 companied by an expression of ferocity : the huge 

 fleshy callosities on the sides of the face adding an 



