ORANG OUTANG. 
149 
vourite food. It had been taught to eat with a 
spoon and a fork, and with the latter would pick 
strawberries out of a plate, one by one, and put 
them into its mouth, Jts common drink was water; 
but it also very willingly drank all sorts of wine, and 
particularly Malaga. 
Mr. Vosmaer was assured, that on shipboard it 
ran freely about the vessel, played with the sailors, 
and would go like them into the kitchen for its 
mess. At the approach of night it lay down to 
sleep, and prepared its bed by shaking well the 
hay on which it slept, putting it in proper or- 
der, and lastly covering itself with the coverlet. 
One day, seeing the padlock of its chain opened 
with a key, and shut again, it seized a little bit 
of stick, and put it into the key-hole, turning it 
about in all directions, endeavouring to see whether 
the padlock would open or not. This animal lived 
seven months in Holland. On its first arrival it 
had but very little hair, except on its back and 
arms ; but on the approach of winter it became ex- 
tremely well covered, the hair on the back being 
three inches in length. 
We cannot help confessing, however reluctantly, 
that the orang outang very strongly resembles our 
image : yet, after all, let us allow the Count de 
Buffon to be right, when he observes that the in- 
terval which separates the two species is immense. 
The ape’s resemblance in figure and organisa- 
tion, and the movements of imitation which seem 
to result from these similarities, neither make him 
