OCEANICA, OR OCEANIA. 



975 



and cordage remarkable for strength, with very little preparation ; and by another process, long 

 slender fibrds, white, and of a silky lustre, are obtained from the leaf of the same plant, and 

 used for fine cloths. The fibre is separated by the native women with a shell, and no hackling 

 or cleaning is required to fit it for use. 



8. Jlnimals. The quadrumanous families are very numerous, and very widely diffused in 

 Oceanica, and most of the species are peculiar to this division of the world. The most 



Comparative Size of Jlnimals of Oceanica, 



1 . Orang Outang. 



2. Bird of Paradise. 



3. Kangaroo. 



4. Duck Billed Platypus. 



5. Black Swan. (j. Paroquet. 



7. Parrot. 



8. Anaconda. 



0. Boa Constrictor. 



10. New Holland Cereopsis. 



11. '■ " Emeu. 



remarkable among them is the Orang Outang {Pithccus satyrus)^ or man of the iorest, as the 

 name signifies in the Malay language. He is found in Borneo and Sumatra, and, as it ap- 

 roaches nearer to the human form than any other brute animal except the chimpanzee, and is 

 quite docile and intelligent, and likewise little known, it has excited much curiosity. It 

 does not, however, surpass the dog in intelligence, although its physical conformation enables 

 It, as well as others of the same order, to imitate some human actions, which the want of 

 hands, and prone attitude of the dog, prevent him from doing. The specimens hitherto 

 obtained have not exceeded 4 fept in height, but thesp wne not ndnlls, find, arcording to 



