22 Quadkumana. MAMMALIA. Simiad^e. 
The orangs appear to have little fear of man, but 
will often stare down upon an intruder for a few minutes 
and then remove slowly to a short distance. When 
pursued, however, as they often are by the Dyaks, who 
kill them with poisoned arrows and eat their flesh, they 
manifest some alarm, and endeavour to get as quickly 
as possible into the loftiest tree in their neighbourhood, 
wlien they climb rapidly to the higher branches, break- 
ing off the smaller boughs in their passage, and throw- 
ing them down as if to intimidate their pursuers. This 
habit has been exaggerated by some travellers into a 
truly offensive action, and the orang has been described 
as throwing branches down at its enemies ; whilst, on 
the other hand, M. Temminck has altogether denied 
that the creature breaks the boughs on purpose to 
throw them down. According to Mr. Wallace, how- 
ever, this is actually the case, although, as he states, 
the orang “ does not throv/ them al a person, but casts 
them down vertically.” He adds that “ in one case, 
a female mias, on a durian tree, kept up for at least ten 
minutes a continuous shower of branches and of the 
heavy spined fruits, as large as 32-pounders, whicli 
most effectually kept us clear of the tree she was on. 
She could be seen breaking them off and throwing them 
down with every appearance of rage, uttering at inter- 
vals a loud pumping grunt, and evidently meaning 
mischief.” 
In this way the orang remains at the top of the tree 
on which he has taken refuge, never venturing to de- 
scend either to attack his pursuers, or to escape, by 
means of the interlacing lower branches, to another 
tree ; but when badly wounded, he sets about making 
a bed similar to his ordinary nightly lair, on which he 
lays himself down to die. This nest effectually screens 
him from below, and he will not quit it after it is once 
completed. Mr. Wallace states that he lost two speci- 
mens in this way ; they died upon their beds, and he 
could not get any one to climb up or cut down the 
tree until the next day, when decomposition had com- 
menced. 
The tenacity of life in the orangs is exceedingly great, 
and it usually requires from six to twelve bullets in the 
body to kill them. An example of this tenacity of life 
was afforded by the Sumatran specimen described by 
Dr. Clarke Abel, and already alluded to on account 
of its great size. This animal was found at a place 
called Ramboon, on the north-west coast of Sumatra, 
by a boat’s crew who had landed to procure water. 
He was upon one of a few trees standing in the midst 
of cultivated ground. On the approach of the party 
he came to the ground, but soon made his escape to 
another tree at a little distance, and was afterwards 
driven to take refuge in a small clump. Here his 
movements were so quick that it was very difficult to 
get a shot at him ; and it was only after cutting down 
several of the trees that his pursuers succeeded in 
shooting him. He received five balls, some of which 
struck him in the body, when he relaxed in his exer- 
tions, and reclining exhausted on one of the branches 
of a tree, vomited a considerable quantitj'’ of blood. 
“ The ammunition of the hunters being by this time 
expended,” says Dr. Abel, “ they were obliged to fell 
the tree in order to obtain him; and did this in full 
confidence that his power was so far gone that they 
could secure him without trouble ; but were astonished, 
as the tree was falling, to see him effect his retreat to 
another with apparently undiminished vigour. In fact, 
they were obliged to cut down all the trees before they 
could drive him to combat his enemies on the ground, 
against whom he still exhibited surprising strength and 
agility, although he was at length overpowered by 
numbers, and destroyed by the thrusts of spears, and 
the blows of stones and other missiles. When nearly 
in a dying state, he seized a spear made of a supple 
wood, which would have withstood the strength of the 
stoutest man, and shivered it in pieces. In the words 
of the narrator, ‘ he broke it as if it had been a carrot.’ 
It is stated by those who aided in his death, that the 
human-like expression of his countenance and piteous 
manner of placing his hands over his wounds, distressed 
their feelings, and almost made them question the 
nature of the act they were committing. When dead, 
both natives and Europeans contemplated his figure 
with amazement. His stature, at the lowest computa- 
tion, was upwards of six feet — at the highest it was 
nearly eight;” but, from the examination of the skin. 
Dr. Abel concludes that he must have been about seven 
feet in height. 
M. Salomon Muller also mentions a male orang, 
about four feet in height, wliich had been wounded by 
the Dyaks with poisoned arrows, and afterwards cap- 
tured by them alive. Although suffering greatly from 
his wounds, this animal exhibited great sti'ength and 
ferocity ; he would rise slowly from his ordinary crouch- 
ing position, and then, seizing a favourable moment, 
would dash impetuously towards the spectators, darting 
his long arms through the bars of his cage, and gene- 
rally attempting to reach the faces of those nearest to 
him. 
Like the other apes, it appears that the orang, when 
attacked, never makes use of his large canine teeth to 
defend himself, but trusts entirely to the enormous 
strength of his long aims. His enemies, however, in 
the forest solitudes which he frequents are very few. 
In Sumatra, the tiger may occasionally pounce upon 
an unlucky’’ orang, when on his way to the water ; but 
in Borneo, the only inhabitant of the forests that would 
be at all a formidable enemy to the orang is the Bor- 
nean bear, and as this animal is almost as exclusively 
devoted to a vegetable diet as the orang himself, it is 
hard to see what cause of quarrel can arise between 
them. Mr. Wallace says — “ The Dyaks are unani- 
mous in their statements that the mias never either 
attacks or is attacked by any animal, with one excep- 
tion which is highly curious, and would hardly be 
credible were it not confirmed by the testimony of 
several independent parties, who have been eye-wit- 
nesses of the circumstance. The only animal the mias 
measures his strength with is the crocodile of these 
regions {Crocodilus Biporcatus?). The account ot the 
natives is as follows: — ‘When there is little fruit in 
the jungle, the mias goes to the river side to eat the 
fruits that grow there, and also the young shoots tt 
some palm-trees which are found at the water’s edge. 
The crocodile then sometimes tries to seize him, but he 
gets on the reptile’s back, beats it with his hands and feet 
