6 ORAN OTAN. 
which this species is supposed to grow : it was of 
a black colour^ and, consequently^, belonged to the 
black variety of this species ; or that described in 
a young state by Dr. Tyson. 
It is remarkable that the large hand represented 
in professor Allamand's edition of the Natural 
History of the Count de Buffon^ as that of an 
Oran Otan^ proved, according to Camper^ who 
examined it accurately, to have been an artificial 
preparation, made by distorting and otherwise al- 
tering the fore-foot of some large quadruped ; 
most probably that of a bear, in the opinion of 
Camper ; and the nails were glued into the places 
where the claws had been. Such are the deceptions 
to which even the most experienced naturalists 
are sometimes liable ! This hand became the sub- 
ject of private controversial correspondence be- 
tween professors Allamand and Camper. At length 
its proprietor, Mr. Vink of Rotterdam, permitted 
it to be opened, when the opinion of Camper was 
found to be just; the whole preparation being 
composed of bones, hair, skins. Sec. nicely ag- 
glutinated and compacted, with the addition of 
nails at the extremities. 
The hand, however, which was brought from 
Sierra Leona, was undoubtedly genuine, and the 
whole skin of the animal is, at present, in the pos- 
session of Mr. A. Afzelius, demonstrator of bo- 
tany in the university of Upsal ; but its full de- 
scription and figure having never been published, 
it is impossible to pronounce^ with certainty, the 
species to which it belongs. 
