ORAN OTAN. 5 
imitate the company in which it was placed : to 
pour out tea^ and drink it without aukwardness or 
constraint ; to prepare its bed with great exact- 
nesSj and compose itself to sleep in a proper man- 
ner. Such are the actions recorded of one which 
was exhibited in London in the year 1738; and 
the Count de BufFon relates nearly similar parti- 
culars of that which he saw at Paris. Dr. Tyson, 
who, about the close of the last century, gave a 
very exact description of a young Oran Otan, then 
exhibited in the metropolis, assures us, that, in 
many of its actions, it seemed to display a very 
high degree of sagacity, and was of a disposition 
uncommonly gentle ; The most gentle and loving 
creature that could he. Thqfe that he knew a ship- 
hoard he would come and embrace with the greatest 
tenderness, opening their hosoms, and clasping his 
hands about them ; and, as I was informed, though 
there were Monkies aboard, yet it zvas observed he 
would never associate with them, and, as if nothing 
akin to them, would always avoid their company. 
But however docile and gentle when taken 
young, and instructed in its behaviour, it is said 
to be possessed of great ferocity in its native state, 
and is considered as a dangerous animal, capable 
of readily overpowering the strongest man. Its 
swiftness is equal to its strength, and for this rea- 
son it is but rarely to be obtained in its full-grown 
state ; the young alone being taken. A few years 
past, the hand of a supposed full-grown oran otan 
was brought from Sierra Leona, which, from its 
size, seemed to justify the idea of the stature to 
