28 
equator, but is known to range far eastward to the sources of 
the Nile, in Uganda, and about Lake Tanganyika. 
Divesting the chimpanzee of the many doubtful, if not 
fabulous qualities with which it has been endowed by imagi¬ 
native travelers, it remains a huge ape, attaining in the adult 
male a height of nearly five feet, devoid of a tail, possessed of 
a very considerable degree of intelligence, and having the 
ability to walk nearly erect, supporting itself by occasionally 
touching its knuckles to the ground or some upright means of 
support. 
They live together in small bands of half a dozen and are 
said to build platforms among the branches, out of boughs 
and leaves, on which they sleep; their diet is chiefly frugiv- 
orous, and they are exceedingly mild in disposition, readily 
becoming friendly and seeking the society of man when 
placed in confinement. 
These apes are looked on by the natives of their country 
as being degenerate members of their own tribe. A native 
name, “ Engeco,” means “ hold your tongue,” and evidently 
had its origin in the common belief that they refuse to speak 
purely from laziness, and in the fear that if their possession 
of the faculty should be discovered, they would be set to 
work with the strictly bipedal inhabitants of the same region. 
The Orang-utan (Simia satyrus ) is indigenous only to 
Borneo and Sumatra. They never attain the height of the 
chimpanzee, but are of heavier build and greater in extent of 
arm. Mr. Wallace gives as the maximum height of seven¬ 
teen specimens, four feet and two inches from crown to heel, 
with a distance across the outstretched arms of seven feet 
eight inches. 
They are of a sluggish and cautious disposition, and rarely- 
come down from the trees. The mental characteristics of 
these apes have been stated elsewhere, by the author, as fol¬ 
lows :— 
“ Between the orang and chimpanzee there is a marked difference in moral 
qualities. The latter is full of life, vigor, vivacity; lively and child-like in 
disposition, enjoying life to the full, and taking interest in all that goes on 
about it. Quite the reverse with the orang: it is slow, sluggish, and calcu¬ 
lating; philosophically indifferent to everything but its immediate wants,— 
voluptuary and stoic in one; life is only for the means of living, and life 
itself is hardly worth the pain of an exertion. For hours it will lie wrapped 
in a blanket, close to the front of the cage, lazily following with its eyes 
the movements of any person who comes within its range of vision, or 
slowly blinking at a straggling fly upon the glass.- American 
Naturalist. Vol. XVII. 
