72 
VERTEBKATA. 
hog's snout, uttering- at the same tune a sound which might be desci'ibed as between the croaking 
of a frog and the grunting of a pig. After some time he ventured to descend, but with great 
caution, peeping continually at the turtles, but could not be induced to approach within many 
yards of them. He ran to the same height, and uttered the same sounds, on seeing some men 
bathing and splashing in the sea, and since his arrival in England has shown nearly the same 
deo-ree of fear at the siffht of a live tortoise." 
The same writer has given a very interesting narrative of the capture of an adult orang-outang, 
which was of gigantic proportions. This animal was discovered by the boat's crew of a merchant 
ship, at a place called Ramboom, near Toaraman, on the northwest coast of Sumatra, on a spot 
where there were a few trees on a piece of cultivated ground. It was evident that he had come 
from a distance, for his legs were covered with mud up to the knees, and the natives were entirely 
unacquainted with him. On the approach of the boat's crew, he came down from the tree in 
which he w^as discovered, and made for a clump at some distance, exhibiting as he moved the ap- 
pearance of a tall, man-like figure, covered with shining brown hair, walking erect, with a wad- 
dling gait, but sometimes accelerating his motion with his hands, and occasionally impelling him- 
self forward by the bough of a tree. His motion on the ground was evidently not his natural 
mode of progression, for even when assisted by his hands, or a stick, it was slow and vacillating. 
It was necessary to see him among the trees to estimate his strength and agility. On being 
driven to a small clump, he gained by one spring a very lofty branch, and bounded from one 
branch to another wnth the swiftness of a common monkey. Had the country been covered with 
wood, it would have been almost impossible to prevent his escape, as his mode of traveling from 
one tree to another was as rapid as the progress of a swift horse. Even amid the few trees that 
were on the spot, his movements were so quick, that it Avas very difficult to obtain a settled aim ; 
and it was only by cutting down one tree after another, that his pursuers, by confining him within 
a very limited range, w^ere enabled to destroy him by several successive shots. Having received 
five balls, his exertions relaxed, and rechning exhausted against a branch, he vomited a quantity 
of blood. The ammunition of the hunters being by this time exhausted, they were obliged to fell 
the tree in order to obtain him; but what was their surprise to see him, as the tree was falhng, 
effect his retreat to another, with seemingly undiminished vigor ! In fact, they were compelled 
to cut down all the trees before they could force him to meet his enemies on the ground ; and 
when finally overpowered by numbers, and nearly in a dying state, he seized a spear made of 
supple wood, wdiich would have withstood the strengtli of the stoutest man, and, in the words of 
the narrator, broke it " like a carrot." It was stated by those who aided in his death, that the 
human-like expression of his countenance, and his piteous manner of placing his hands over his 
wounds, distressed their feelings so as almost to make them question the nature of the act they 
were committing. He w^as more than seven feet high, with a broad expanded chest, and narrow 
waist. His chin was fringed with a beard, that curled neatly on each side, and formed an orna- 
mental rather than frightful appendage to his visage. His arms were long even in j^roportion to 
his height, but his legs were much shorter. Upon the whole he was a wonderful beast to behold, 
and there was more a,bout him to excite amazement than fear. His hair was smooth and glossy, 
and his whole appearance showed him to be in the full vigor of youth and strength. This speci- 
men is preserved in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of London. 
We could add still other accounts of the orang-outang, but these will doubtless satisfy the 
reader. We have seen the gorilla to figure in the history of Hanno, the Carthaginian : it appears 
that the orang is connected with that of Alexander of Macedon. At the present day it is con- 
fined to Borneo and the adjacent island of Sumatra; but at an earlier date it was doubtless 
spread over much wider territories. Strabo tells us that when the Macedonian conqueror pene- 
trated into India with his victorious troops, he encountered a multitudinous band, wdiich he con- 
ceived to be a hostile army. He made immediate preparations to attack this force, upon which 
he was informed by King Taxilla that these beings w^ere only pacific apes, entirely destitute of the 
spirit of conquest. It is by no means impossible that animals of this species were spread over the 
tropical portions of Asia, and perhaps even the warm parts of Europe. These, in the early ages 
of the world, doubtless made impressions upon the vivid imaginations of the human inhabitants, 
