TEE ORANGS . 
59 
CHAPTER III. 
THE MAN -SHAPED APES [continued) — Genus Simla — the orang-utan. 
Origin of the Name — Description of the Orang — Rajah Brooke’s First Specimen — Mr.' Wallace’s Experiences in Mias 
Hunting — The Home of the Mias — A Mias at Bay — Their Nests, Habits, Food, and Localities — Different kinds of 
Orangs — Structural Points — The Intelligence and Habits of the Young — The Brain and its Case — Resemblances and 
Differences of Old and Young. 
THE ORANG-UTAN* 
The Malays call tlieir chiefs Orangs, ancl the word relates to the intelligence of those called by it, 
meaning “ a rational being.” They apply it also to their Elephants, and to the great Ape of Sumatra and 
Borneo. Utah, or as some spell it, Oetan (utang being wrong), means wild, or “of the woods;” and 
hence the conjoined words may be translated by what the natives really mean, “ the wild man of the 
wood.” There are two kinds of Orang-utan, and both are, to a certain extent, man-like, the resemblance 
being greatest in the females and in the young, and diminishing as the males grow older. 
All have long ruddy-brown hair, the tinge being decidedly red, a dark face, with small eyes, small 
nose, and great projecting jaws. The hair comes over the forehead and backwards over the neck; 
it is long on the limbs, and points downwards on the tipper and upwards on the lower arm. It covers 
the back, and seat, and legs, standing out often, and gives a very wiry look to the fur. What strikes 
one directly on looking at a well-stuffed specimen of an old male, for instance, is the great length of the 
fore-limbs, which reach far towards the ankle, the length of the muzzle, and the extraordinary breadth 
of the face under the eyes, where the flatness resembles a mask more than a natural growth. In the 
females and young this growth of the cheek-bone and its covering of fat and skin are not seen; and it 
appears to be a mark of male beauty, as are also two sets of ridges on the skull, which greatly resemble 
those of the Gorilla. 
Rajah Brooke, whose name will always be associated with Borneo, took great interest in Orang-utan 
hunting, principally with a view to decide how many kinds there were ; and his first impressions on 
killing his first large one were excited by the prominent peculiarities just noticed. The first male lie 
killed was seated lazily on a tree, and when the people approached he only took the trouble to hide 
behind the trunk, peeping first on one side and then on the other, and “dodging,” as the Rajah did the 
same. He was wounded in the wrist, and afterwards was despatched. The Rajah wrote to the Zoo- 
logical Society of London as follows : — “ Great was our triumph as we gazed on the huge animal dead 
at our feet, and proud were we of having shot the first Orang we had seen, and shot him in his native 
woods, in a Borneo forest hitherto untrodden by European feet. We were struck with the length of 
his arms, the enormous neck, the expanse of face, which altogether gave the impression of great height, 
whereas it was only great power. The hair was long, reddish, and thin; the face remarkably broad 
and fleshy, and on each side, in the place of a man’s whiskers, were the callosities, or rather fleshy 
protuberances, which I was. so desirous to see, and which were nearly two inches in thickness. The 
ears were small and well shaped, the nose quite flat, the mouth prominent, the lips thick, the eyes 
small and roundish, the teeth large and discoloured, the face and hand's black — these last being very 
powerful. This animal was four feet one inch in height, and its fore-limb was three feet five inches and 
three-quarters in length; the width of the face, moreover, being as much as one foot one inch.” 
“ Whilst the fore-limb was so long, the lower limb, from the hip to the heel, only measured one 
foot nine inches; and hence there is great disproportion between the limbs, the legs and feet appearing 
dwarfed in comparison.” 
The Rajah considered the Orangs to be as dull and slothful as one could conceive, and on no 
reaches from the back to the elbow, and which allows the animals, when hanging by one hand, to turn and twist the body 
slightly. Hie metacarpal bone of the little linger has a special muscle, which tends to enlarge the grasp of the hand. The 
great Apes have, however, an imperfect or deficient proper flexor to the thumb, and the extensor of the first joint of the 
thumb is wanting. The ill-developed “ calf ” lias not its two great muscles combined in the one tendo Achillis, as in man, and 
the muscles of the foot are so arranged that they permit of much more independent motion than those of man have. 
* Simia Satyr us. Simia Mario,, 
