56 SORNEQ— THE ORANG-UTAN, [ouaimv. 



what pni-pose they could liave been ptit there. ThU 

 ftiiiinal was almost identical io size aud appearance with 

 the one I had obtained at 8emabang, aud was the oaly 

 other male specimen of the Siiuia niorio wliicli I olrtained. 

 It is now in the Derby Musenm. 



I afterwards shot two adult females and two ycuui; 

 ones of dill'erent ages, all of which 1 preserved One of 

 ihe females, with several Young ones, wafj feeding on a 

 Durian tree with nnripe fruit; and as soon as she saw ns 

 she he<^an bix'aking oiT branches and the great spiny 

 fruits with every apiiearance ijf rage, causing such a 

 shower of missiles as effectually kept us from approaching 

 too near the tree. This haltit of throwing down branches 

 when irritated has been doubted, but I have, as here 

 nan-ated, observed it myself on at least three separate 

 occasions. It was however always ihe female Mias who 

 behaved in this way, and it may be that the male, tnisting 

 more to his great stren<rth and his powerful canine teeth, 

 is not afraid of any other animal, and does not want 

 to drive them away, while the parental instinct of the 

 female leads her to adopt this mode of defending herself 

 and her young ones. 



In preparing the skins and skeletons of these animaU, I 

 was much troubled by the Dyak dogs, wliich, being always 

 kept in a state of semi-starvation, are ravenous for animal 

 food. 1 had a great iron pan, in which I boiled the bones 

 to make skeletons, and at night 1 covered this over with 

 boards, ami put heavy stones upon it; but the dogs 

 managed to remove these and carried away the greater part 

 of one uf my specimens. On another occasion they 

 gnawed away a good deal of ihe upper leather of my strung 

 boots, and even ate a piece of my mosquito-curtain, wliere 

 some lamp-oil had been spilt over it some weeks before. 



On our return down the stream, we had the fortune to fall 

 hi -with a very old niak JVIias, feeding on some low trees 

 growing in the water. The country was flooded for a long 

 distance, but so full of trees and slumps that ihe laden 

 boat coidd not be got in among tliem, and if it could have 

 been we should only have frightened ihe Mias away. I 

 therefore got into the water, which was nearly up to nty 

 waist, and waded on till I w^as near enough for a shot. 



