1809.]' Anecdotes of the Oran Otan, and Chimpanzee, 
Jegs, for he hath no calf, He goeth al- 
ways on his legs. 
“These creatures sleep in trees, and 
build shelters from the rain. They feed 
upon fruits that they find in the woods, 
and upon nuts; for they eat no kind of 
flesh. They cannot speak, and have no 
understanding, no more than a beast. 
The people of the ceuntry, when they 
travel in the woods, make fires, where 
they sleep in the night: and in the morn- 
ing, when they are gone, the Pongoes will 
come and sit about the fire ull it goeth 
out; for they have no ‘understanding to 
Jay the wood together, They go, many 
together, and kill many negroes that tra- 
vel in the woods. Many times they fall 
upon the elephants, which come to feed 
where they be, and so beat them with 
their clubbed fists, and pieces of wood, 
that they will run away roaring from 
them. ‘These Pongoes are never taken 
alive, because they ate so strong, thatten 
men cannot hold one of them: but yetthe 
inhabitants take many of their young 
ones with poisoned arrows. The young 
Pongo hangeth on his mother’s belly, with 
his hands fast clasped about her; so that 
when the country-people kill any of the 
females, they take the young one which 
hangeth fast upon his mother. When 
they die among themselves, they ‘cover 
the dead with great heaps of boughs; and 
these heaps are commonly found in the 
forests.””* | 
In the island of Borneo, says Le 
Compte, the Oran Otan, although he 
walks only upon two legs, is so extremely 
swift, that it is very difficult to overtake 
him. Persons of quality hunt him someé- 
what in the same manner as they do 
stags in Europe; and this species of hunt- 
ing was, in Le Compte’s time, a favorite 
diversion of the king. The same author, 
thus deseribes an Oran Otan, which he 
' saw, in a domesticated state, on board a 
vessel, in the Straits of Malacca. 
“Tt is somewhat more’ than four feet 
high, and marches naturally on its hind 
legs, which it bends a little, like those of 
a dog that has been taught to dance, It 
uses its arms and hands in the same man- 
ner that we do. [ts cry is exactly like 
that of a child; and all its actions so much 
resemble those of men, and the passions 
are so lively and significant, that a dumb 
man could scarcely be able to express his 
desires better. “This animal is very gen- 
tle, and exhibits great affection. towards 
en ee CT 
¢ Purchas’s Pilgrimess 2. book ?. ch, so 
sect. 7. ahaha 
143 
all from whom it receives any attentions, 
One thing is particularly remarkable, 
that, hke a child, it will frequently make 
a stamping noise with its feet, from joy 
or anger, when it has received or is re- 
fused any kind of food that it is fond of. ° 
“Its agility is almost incredible; with 
the greatest ease and security it runs 
about amongst the rigging of the vessel, 
vaulting trom rope to rope, and playing a 
thousand pranks, as if it was delighted by 
exhibiting its feats for the diversion of 
the company, Sometimes suspended by 
one arm, it will poise itself, and then 
suddenly turn round a rope with nearly 
as much quickness as a wheel or a sling, 
that 1s once put in motion. Sometimes 
it will slide down one of the ropes; and 
will again ascend with astonishing agility. 
There is no posture which this animal 
cannot imitate, nor any motion which it 
cannot perform. It has even sometimes 
been known to fling itself downwards 
from one rope to another, though ata 
distance of thirty feet and upwards,” 
In the year 1759, M. Pallavicini, who 
held an official situation at Batavia, had 
in his house two Oran Otans, a male and 
a female, which were extremely mild and 
gentle.. They were nearly of human 
stature, and they imitated very closely 
the actions of men, particularly with 
their hands and arms. In some respects. 
they appeared to have a degree of bash- 
fulness and modesty, which are not ob- 
servable even in savage tribes of the hu- 
man race; but this, most probably, was 
a trick that they had been taught. If, 
for imstance, the female was attentively 
looked at by any person, she would 
throw herself into the arms of the male, 
and hide her face in his bosom. Their 
voice was a kind of ery, resembling. that 
of most other apes and monkies. 
An individual of the Oran Otan spe- 
cies, or a variety nearly allied to it, was 
eaught when young i thé interior of 
Guinea, and carried from thence to Suri- 
nam. Allemand, the Duteh professor of 
Natural History, had received many - 
vague and unsatisfactory particulars re- 
specting this animal. ‘These were, how- 
ever, on the whole, so interesting, that 
he was induced to write to M. May, a 
captain in the Dutch naval service, sta- ~ 
tioned at Surinam, for the purpose of ob- 
taining an authentic account of it, M. 
May informed him, that when he was on 
the coast of Guinea, with his vessel, one 
of the sailors brought on board a small 
tail-less ape,-about six months old, which 
had been caught in the kingdom of Benin, 
He 
