62 



BORNEO^THE ORANG-UTAN. 



[COAP. IV. 



of a Bom can Omng as large aa the Gorilla. I have 

 myself exuminetl the bodies of seventeen freshly-killed 

 Oraiigs, all of which were carefully ineasiir^tl; and of seven 

 of them I preserved the skeleton. I also ohlained two 

 skeletons killed by other pei^ons. Of this extensive series, 

 sixteen were fully ailuU, nine being males, and seven 

 females. The fttUilt niale.s of the large Oranga only varied 

 from 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches in height, measured 

 fairly to the heel, so as to give the height of the animal 

 i\ it stood perfectly erer.'t ; the extent of the outstretched 

 arms, from 7 feet 2 inehes to 7 feet 8 inches ; and the 

 width of the face, from 10 inches to 13^ inches. Tlie 

 dimensions given hy other natiindista closely agree with 

 mine. The lai"gcst Orang measured by Temniinck was 



4 feet high. Uf twenty-five specimens coUeeted hy 

 Schlegel and Miiller, the largest old male was 4 feet 

 1 inch ; and the largest skeleton Ln the Calcutta Museum 

 was, according to Mr. l>lyth, 4 feet 1^ inch. !My speci- 

 mens were nil from the north-west const of liorneo ; those 

 of the Dutch from tlie we.'^t and south coasts; and no 

 specimen 1ms yet reached Europe exceeiling these dimen- 

 sions, although the total number of skins and skeletons 

 must amount to over a hundred. 



Stninge to say, however, eeveml pei'sons declare that 

 they have nieasui*ed Orangs of a much lai-ger size, Tem- 

 niinck, in his Monograpli of the Urang, says, that he 

 has just received news of the capture of a specimen 



5 feet 3 inches high. Unfortunately, it never seems to 

 have reached Holland, for nothing has since been heard 

 of any such animal Mr. St. John, in his "Life in the 

 Forests of tlie Far East/* voL ii. p. 237, tells us of an 

 Omng shot by a friend of his, which was 5 feet 2 inches 

 from the liecl to the top of the head^ the arm 17 inches 

 in girth, and the wrist 12 inches! The head alone was 

 brought to Sarawak, and Jlr. St. John tells us that he 

 assisted to measure this, and that it was 15 inches broad 

 by 14 long. Unfortunately, even this skull appcuii-a not 

 to have been preserved, for no specimen corre.«uonding to 

 these dimensions has yet reached England. 



In a letter from Sir James Brooke, dated Octooer 18iff, 

 in which he acknowledges the receipt of my Papera on the 



