28 



A NEW HISTORY OF 



In the frontispiece to his book, he gives us 

 an unfaithful portrait of the large orang-outang 

 sitting on a bench, with a cane in its hand, and 

 supporting its arm on it. Uncomfortable position 

 for the captive brute ! We might easily mistake 

 it for a man, both in form and in position. He 

 tells us, that the " largest of the kind are extremely 

 swift." Swift forsooth ! I should like to talk 

 with any European traveller, or with any native 

 of the regions in which orang-outangs are found, 

 who will positively assert, that they have ever 

 detected one of these apes, either young or old, 

 in flight, or in a journey on the ground. I would 

 prove the assertion to be a fabrication by the 

 anatomy of the animal itself. 



Our author continues, that " they drive away the 

 elephants who approach too near the place of their 

 residence." What, in the name of bullying, I ask, 

 has the orang-outang to do with the elephant in 

 the way of residence ? 



Wild animals in boundless space, do not quarrel 

 with others of a different species, except for food ; 

 and then, the strongest soon destroy the weakest, 

 or make them retire elsewhere. Thus, we may easily 

 conceive that a stiff buck goat, might so far forget 

 good breeding as to pounce upon a tender lamb, 

 and seize the savoury plant upon which the lamb 



