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diff --git a/old/thx1110.txt b/old/thx1110.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4418e69 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thx1110.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2090 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature +#21 in our series by Thomas H. Huxley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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MAN. +'Photographically reduced from Diagrams of the natural size (except +that of the Gibbon, which was twice as large as nature), drawn by +Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens in the Museum of the Royal +College of Surgeons. + + + +ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE +MAN-LIKE APES + +Ancient traditions, when tested by the severe processes of modern +investigation, commonly enough fade away into mere dreams: but it is +singular how often the dream turns out to have been a half-waking one, +presaging a reality. Ovid foreshadowed the discoveries of the +geologist: the Atlantis was an imagination, but Columbus found a western +world: and though the quaint forms of Centaurs and Satyrs have an +existence only in the realms of art, creatures approaching man more +nearly than they in essential structure, and yet as thoroughly brutal +as the goat's or horse's half of the mythical compound, are now not +only known, but notorious. + +I have not met with any notice of one of these MAN-LIKE APES of earlier +date than that contained in Pigafetta's 'Description of the Kingdom of +Congo,'* drawn up from the notes of a Portuguese sailor, Eduardo Lopez, +and published in 1598. The tenth chapter of this work is entitled "De +Animalibus quae in hac provincia reperiuntur," and contains a brief +passage to the effect that "in the Songan country, on the banks of the +Zaire, there are multitudes of apes, which afford great delight to the +nobles by imitating human gestures." As this might apply to almost any +kind of apes, I should have thought little of it, had not the brothers +De Bry, whose engravings illustrate the work, thought fit, in their +eleventh 'Argumentum,' to figure two of these "Simiae magnatum +deliciae." So much of the plate as contains these apes is faithfully +copied in the woodcut (Fig. 1), and it will be observed that they are +tail-less, long-armed, and large-eared; and about the size of +Chimpanzees. It may be that these apes are as much figments of the +imagination of the ingenious brothers as the winged, two-legged, +crocodile-headed dragon which adorns the same plate; or, on the other +hand, it may be that the artists have constructed their drawings from +some essentially faithful description of a Gorilla or a Chimpanzee. +And, in either case, though these figures are worth a passing notice, +the oldest trustworthy and definite accounts of any animal of this kind +date from the 17th century, and are due to an Englishman. + + [FOOTNOTE] * REGNUM CONGO: hoc est VERA DESCRIPTIO REGNI + AFRICANI QUOD TAM AB INCOLIS QUAM LUSITANIS CONGUS + APPELLATUR, per Philippum Pigafettam, olim ex Edoardo Lopez + acroamatis lingua Italica excerpta, num Latio sermone + donata ab August. Cassiod. Reinio. Iconibus et + imaginibus rerum memorabilium quasi vivis, opera et + industria Joan. Theodori et Joan. Israelis de Bry, fratrum + exornata. Francofurti, MDXCVIII. + +FIG. 1.--SIMIAE MAGNATUM DELICIAE.--De Bry, 1598. + +The first edition of that most amusing old book, 'Purchas his +Pilgrimage,' was published in 1613, and therein are to be found many +references to the statements of one whom Purchas terms "Andrew Battell +(my neere neighbour, dwelling at Leigh in Essex) who served under +Manuel Silvera Perera, Governor under the King of Spaine, at his city of +Saint Paul, and with him went farre into the countrey of Angola"; and +again, "my friend, Andrew Battle, who lived in the kingdom of Congo +many yeares," and who, "upon some quarell betwixt the Portugals (among +whom he was a sergeant of a band) and him, lived eight or nine moneths +in the woodes." From this weather-beaten old soldier, Purchas was +amazed to hear "of a kinde of Great Apes, if they might so bee termed, +of the height of a man, but twice as bigge in feature of their limmes, +with strength proportionable, hairie all over, otherwise altogether like +men and women in their whole bodily shape.* They lived on such wilde +fruits as the trees and woods yielded, and in the night time lodged on +the trees." + + [footnote] *"Except this that their legges had no + calves."--[Ed. 1626.] And in a marginal note, "These great + apes are called Pongo's." + +This extract is, however, less detailed and clear in its statements than +a passage in the third chapter of the second part of another +work--'Purchas his Pilgrimes,' published in 1625, by the same +author--which has been often, though hardly ever quite rightly, cited. +The chapter is entitled, "The strange adventures of Andrew Battell, of +Leigh in Essex, sent by the Portugals prisoner to Angola, who lived +there and in the adioining regions neere eighteene yeeres." And the +sixth section of this chapter is headed--"Of the Provinces of Bongo, +Calongo, Mayombe, Manikesocke, Motimbas: of the Ape Monster Pongo, +their hunting: Idolatries; and divers other observations." + +"This province (Calongo) toward the east bordereth upon Bongo, and +toward the north upon Mayombe, which is nineteen leagues from Longo +along the coast. + +"This province of Mayombe is all woods and groves, so over-growne that a +man may travaile twentie days in the shadow without any sunne or heat. +Here is no kind of corne nor graine, so that the people liveth onely +upon plantanes and roots of sundrie sorts, very good; and nuts; nor any +kinde of tame cattell, nor hens. + +"But they have great store of elephant's flesh, which they greatly +esteeme, and many kinds of wild beasts; and great store of fish. Here +is a great sandy bay, two leagues to the northward of Cape Negro,* +which is the port of Mayombe. Sometimes the Portugals lade logwood in +this bay. Here is a great river, called Banna: in the winter it hath +no barre, because the generall winds cause a great sea. But when the +sunne hath his south declination, then a boat may goe in; for then it +is smooth because of the raine. This river is very great, and hath many +ilands and people dwelling in them. The woods are so covered with +baboones, monkies, apes and parrots, that it will feare any man to +travaile in them alone. Here are also two kinds of monsters, which are +common in these woods, and very dangerous. + + [footnote] *'Purchas' note'.--Cape Negro is in 16 degrees + south of the line. + +"The greatest of these two monsters is called Pongo in their language, +and the lesser is called Engeco. This Pongo is in all proportion like +a man; but that he is more like a giant in stature than a man; for he +is very tall, and hath a man's face, hollow-eyed, with long haire upon +his browes. His face and eares are without haire, and his hands also. +His bodie is full of haire, but not very thicke; and it is of a dunnish +colour. + +"He differeth not from a man but in his legs; for they have no calfe. +Hee goeth alwaies upon his legs, and carrieth his hands clasped in the +nape of his necke when he goeth upon the ground. They sleepe in the +trees, and build shelters for the raine. They feed upon fruit that +they find in the woods, and upon nuts, for they eate no kind of flesh. +They cannot speake, and have no understanding more than a beast. The +people of the countrie, when they travaile in the woods make fires +where they sleepe in the night; and in the morning when they are gone, +the Pongoes will come and sit about the fire till it goeth out; for +they have no understanding to lay the wood together. They goe many +together and kill many negroes that travaile in the woods. Many times +they fall upon the elephants which come to feed where they be, and so +beate them with their clubbed fists, and pieces of wood, that they will +runne roaring away from them. Those Pongoes are never taken alive +because they are so strong, that ten men cannot hold one of them; but +yet they take many of their young ones with poisoned arrowes. + +"The young Pongo hangeth on his mother's belly with his hands fast +clasped about her, so that when the countrie 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 wood, which is commonly found in the forest."* + + [footnote] *Purchas' marginal note, p. 982:--"The Pongo a + giant ape. He told me in conference with him, that one of + these pongoes tooke a negro boy of his which lived a moneth + with them. For they hurt not those which they surprise at + unawares, except they look on them; which he avoyded. He + said their highth was like a man's, but their bignesse + twice as great. I saw the negro boy. What the other + monster should be he hath forgotten to relate; and these + papers came to my hand since his death, which, otherwise, + in my often conferences, I might have learned. Perhaps he + meaneth the Pigmy Pongo killers mentioned." + +It does not appear difficult to identify the exact region of which +Battell speaks. Longo is doubtless the name of the place usually +spelled Loango on our maps. Mayombe still lies some nineteen leagues +northward from Loango, along the coast; and Cilongo or Kilonga, +Manikesocke, and Motimbas are yet registered by geographers. The Cape +Negro of Battell, however, cannot be the modern Cape Negro in 16 +degrees S., since Loango itself is in 4 degrees S. latitude. On the +other hand, the "great river called Banna" corresponds very well with +the "Camma" and "Fernand Vas," of modern geographers, which form a great +delta on this part of the African coast. + +Now this "Camma" country is situated about a degree and a-half south of +the Equator, while a few miles to the north of the line lies the +Gaboon, and a degree or so north of that, the Money River--both well +known to modern naturalists as localities where the largest of man-like +Apes has been obtained. Moreover, at the present day, the word Engeco, +or N'schego, is applied by the natives of these regions to the smaller +of the two great Apes which inhabit them; so that there can be no +rational doubt that Andrew Battell spoke of that which he knew of his +own knowledge, or, at any rate, by immediate report from the natives of +Western Africa. The "Engeco," however, is that "other monster" whose +nature Battell "forgot to relate," while the name "Pongo"--applied to +the animal whose characters and habits are so fully and carefully +described--seems to have died out, at least in its primitive form and +signification. Indeed, there is evidence that not only in Battell's +time, but up to a very recent date, it was used in a totally different +sense from that in which he employs it. + +For example, the second chapter of Purchas' work, which I have just +quoted, contains "A Description and Historicall Declaration of the +Golden Kingdom of Guinea, etc. etc. Translated from the Dutch, and +compared also with the Latin," wherein it is stated (p. 986) that-- + +"The River Gaboon lyeth about fifteen miles northward from Rio de Angra, +and eight miles northward from Cape de Lope Gonsalves (Cape Lopez), and +is right under the Equinoctial line, about fifteene miles from St. +Thomas, and is a great land, well and easily to be knowne. At the mouth +of the river there lieth a sand, three or foure fathoms deepe, whereon +it beateth mightily with the streame which runneth out of the river +into the sea. This river, in the mouth thereof, is at least four miles +broad; but when you are about the Iland called 'Pongo', it is not above +two miles broad.... On both sides the river there standeth many +trees.... The Iland called 'Pongo', which hath a monstrous high hill." + +FIG 2.--The Orang of Tulpius, 1641. + +The French naval officers, whose letters are appended to the late M. +Isidore Geoff. Saint Hilaire's excellent essay on the Gorilla*, note in +similar terms the width of the Gaboon, the trees that line its banks +down to the water's edge, and the strong current that sets out of it. +They describe two islands in its estuary;--one low, called Perroquet; +the other high, presenting three conical hills, called Coniquet; and +one of them, M. Franquet, expressly states that, formerly, the Chief of +Coniquet was called 'Meni-Pongo', meaning thereby Lord of 'Pongo'; and +that the 'N'Pongues' (as, in agreement with Dr. Savage, he affirms the +natives call themselves) term the estuary of the Gaboon itself +'N'Pongo'. + + [footnote] *'Archives du Museum', tome x. + +It is so easy, in dealing with savages, to misunderstand their +applications of words to things, that one is at first inclined to +suspect Battell of having confounded the name of this region, where his +"greater monster" still abounds, with the name of the animal itself. +But he is so right about other matters (including the name of the +"lesser monster") that one is loth to suspect the old traveller of +error; and, on the other hand, we shall find that a voyager of a hundred +years' later date speaks of the name "Boggoe," as applied to a great +Ape, by the inhabitants of quite another part of Africa--Sierra Leone. + +But I must leave this question to be settled by philologers and +travellers; and I should hardly have dwelt so long upon it except for +the curious part played by this word 'Pongo'in the later history of the +man-like Apes. + +The generation which succeeded Battell saw the first of the man-like +Apes which was ever brought to Europe, or, at any rate, whose visit +found a historian. In the third book of Tulpius' 'Observationes +Medicae', published in 1641, the 56th chapter or section is devoted to +what he calls 'Satyrus indicus', "called by the Indians Orang-autang or +Man-of-the-Woods, and by the Africans Quoias Morrou." He gives a very +good figure, evidently from the life, of the specimen of this animal, +"nostra memoria ex Angola delatum," presented to Frederick Henry Prince +of Orange. Tulpius says it was as big as a child of three years old, +and as stout as one of six years: and that its back was covered with +black hair. It is plainly a young Chimpanzee. + +In the meanwhile, the existence of other, Asiatic, man-like Apes became +known, but at first in a very mythical fashion. Thus Bontius (1658) +gives an altogether fabulous and ridiculous account and figure of an +animal which he calls "Orang-outang"; and though he says "vidi Ego +cujus effigiem hic exhibeo," the said effigies (see Fig. 6 for Hoppius' +copy of it) is nothing but a very hairy woman of rather comely aspect, +and with proportions and feet wholly human. The judicious English +anatomist, Tyson, was justified in saying of this description by +Bontius, "I confess I do mistrust the whole representation." + +It is to the last mentioned writer, and his coadjutor Cowper, that we +owe the first account of a man-like ape which has any pretensions to +scientific accuracy and completeness. The treatise entitled, +"'Orang-outang, sive Homo Sylvestris'; or the Anatomy of a Pygmie +compared with that of a 'Monkey', an 'Ape', and a 'Man'," published by +the Royal Society in 1699, is, indeed, a work of remarkable merit, and +has, in some respects, served as a model to subsequent inquirers. This +"Pygmie," Tyson tells us "was brought from Angola, in Africa; but was +first taken a great deal higher up the country"; its hair "was of a +coal-black colour and strait," and "when it went as a quadruped on all +four, 'twas awkwardly; not placing the palm of the hand flat to the +ground, but it walk'd upon its knuckles, as I observed it to do when +weak and had not strength enough to support its body."--"From the top +of the head to the heel of the foot, in a strait line, it measured +twenty-six inches." + +FIGS. 3 and 4.--The 'Pygmie' reduced from Tyson's figures 1 and 2, +1699. + +These characters, even without Tyson's good figures (Figs. 3 and 4), +would have been sufficient to prove his "Pygmie" to be a young +Chimpanzee. But the opportunity of examining the skeleton of the very +animal Tyson anatomised having most unexpectedly presented itself to +me, I am able to bear independent testimony to its being a veritable +'Troglodytes niger'*, though still very young. Although fully +appreciating the resemblances between his Pygmie and Man, Tyson by no +means overlooked the differences between the two, and he concludes his +memoir by summing up first, the points in which "the Ourang-outang or +Pygmie more resembled a Man than Apes and Monkeys do," under +forty-seven distinct heads; and then giving, in thirty-four similar +brief paragraphs, the respects in which "the Ourang-outang or Pygmie +differ'd from a Man and resembled more the Ape and Monkey kind." + + [footnote] * I am indebted to Dr. Wright, of Cheltenham, + whose paleontological labours are so well known, for + bringing this interesting relic to my knowledge. Tyson's + granddaughter, it appears, married Dr. Allardyce, a + physician of repute in Cheltenham, and brought, as part of + her dowry, the skeleton of the 'Pygmie.' Dr. Allardyce + presented it to the Cheltenham Museum, and, through the good + offices of my friend Dr. Wright, the authorities of the + Museum have permitted me to borrow, what is, perhaps its + most remarkable ornament. + +After a careful survey of the literature of the subject extant in his +time, our author arrives at the conclusion that his "Pygmie" is +identical neither with the Orangs of Tulpius and Bontius, nor with the +Quoias Morrou of Dapper (or rather of Tulpius), the Barris of d'Arcos, +nor with the Pongo of Battell; but that it is a species of ape probably +identical with the Pygmies of the Ancients, and, says Tyson, though it +"does so much resemble a 'Man' in many of its parts, more than any of +the ape kind, or any other 'animal' in the world, that I know of: yet by +no means do I look upon it as the product of a 'mixt' generation--'tis +a 'Brute-Animal sui generis', and a particular 'species of Ape'." + +The name of "Chimpanzee," by which one of the African Apes is now so +well known, appears to have come into use in the first half of the +eighteenth century, but the only important addition made, in that +period, to our acquaintance with the man-like apes of Africa is +contained in 'A New Voyage to Guinea', by William Smith, which bears the +date 1744. + +In describing the animals of Sierra Leone, p. 51, this writer says:-- + +"I shall next describe a strange sort of animal, called by the white men +in this country Mandrill*, but why it is so called I know not, nor did +I ever hear the name before, neither can those who call them so tell, +except it be for their near resemblance of a human creature, though +nothing at all like an Ape. Their bodies, when full grown, are as big +in circumference as a middle-sized man's--their legs much shorter, and +their feet larger; their arms and hands in proportion. The head is +monstrously big, and the face broad and flat, without any other hair +but the eyebrows; the nose very small, the mouth wide, and the lips +thin. The face, which is covered by a white skin, is monstrously ugly, +being all over wrinkled as with old age; the teeth broad and yellow; +the hands have no more hair than the face, but the same white skin, +though all the rest of the body is covered with long black hair, like a +bear. They never go upon all fours, like apes; but cry, when vexed or +teased, just like children...." + + [footnote] *"Mandrill" seems to signify a "man-like ape," + the word "Drill" or "Dril" having been anciently employed + in England to denote an Ape or Baboon. Thus in the fifth + edition of Blount's "Glossographia, or a Dictionary + interpreting the hard words of whatsoever language now used + in our refined English tongue...very useful for all such as + desire to understand what they read," published in 1681, I + find, "Dril--a stone-cutter's tool wherewith he bores + little holes in marble, etc. Also a large overgrown Ape + and Baboon, so called." "Drill" is used in the same sense + in Charleton's "Onomasticon Zoicon," 1668. The singular + etymology of the word given by Buffon seems hardly a + probable one. + +FIG. 5.--Facsimile of William Smith's figure of the "Mandrill," 1744. + +"When I was at Sherbro, one Mr. Cummerbus, whom I shall have occasion +hereafter to mention, made me a present of one of these strange +animals, which are called by the natives Boggoe: it was a she-cub, of +six months' age, but even then larger than a Baboon. I gave it in +charge to one of the slaves, who knew how to feed and nurse it, being a +very tender sort of animal; but whenever I went off the deck the +sailors began to teaze it--some loved to see its tears and hear it cry; +others hated its snotty nose; one who hurt it, being checked by the +negro that took care of it, told the slave he was very fond of his +country-woman, and asked him if he should not like her for a wife? To +which the slave very readily replied, 'No, this no my wife; this a +white woman--this fit wife for you.' This unlucky wit of the negro's, I +fancy, hastened its death, for next morning it was found dead under the +windlass." + +William Smith's 'Mandrill,' or 'Boggoe,' as his description and figure +testify, was, without doubt, a Chimpanzee. + +FIG. 6.--The Anthropomorpha of Linnaeus. + +Linnaeus knew nothing, of his own observation, of the man-like Apes of +either Africa or Asia, but a dissertation by his pupil Hoppius in the +'Amoenitates Academicae' (VI. 'Anthropomorpha') may be regarded as +embodying his views respecting these animals. + +The dissertation is illustrated by a plate, of which the accompanying +woodcut, Fig, 6, is a reduced copy, The figures are entitled (from +left to right) 1. 'Troglodyta Bontii'; 2. 'Lucifer Aldrovandi'; 3. +'Satyrus Tulpii'; 4. 'Pygmaeus Edwardi'. The first is a bad copy of +Bontius' fictitious 'Ourang-outang,' in whose existence, however, +Linnaeus appears to have fully believed; for in the standard edition of +the 'Systema Naturae', it is enumerated as a second species of Homo; +"H. nocturnus." 'Lucifer Aldrovandi' is a copy of a figure in +Aldrovandus, 'De Quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis', Lib. 2, p. 249 +(1645), entitled "Cercopithecus formae rarae 'Barbilius' vocatus et +originem a china ducebat." Hoppius is of opinion that this may be one +of that cat-tailed people, of whom Nicolaus Koping affirms that they eat +a boat's crew, "gubernator navis" and all! In the 'Systema Naturae' +Linnaeus calls it in a note, 'Homo caudatus', and seems inclined to +regard it as a third species of man. According to Temminck, 'Satyrus +Tulpii' is a copy of the figure of a Chimpanzee published by Scotin in +1738, which I have not seen. It is the 'Satyrus indicus' of the +'Systema Naturae', and is regarded by Linnaeus as possibly a distinct +species from 'Satyrus sylvestris'. The last, named 'Pygmaeus Edwardi', +is copied from the figure of a young "Man of the Woods," or true +Orang-Utan, given in Edwards' 'Gleanings of Natural History' (1758). + +Buffon was more fortunate than his great rival. Not only had he the +rare opportunity of examining a young Chimpanzee in the living state, +but he became possessed of an adult Asiatic man-like Ape--the first and +the last adult specimen of any of these animals brought to Europe for +many years. With the valuable assistance of Daubenton, Buffon gave an +excellent description of this creature, which, from its singular +proportions, he termed the long-armed Ape, or Gibbon. It is the modern +'Hylobates lar'. + +Thus when, in 1766, Buffon wrote the fourteenth volume of his great +work, he was personally familiar with the young of one kind of African +man-like Ape, and with the adult of an Asiatic species--while the +Orang-Utan and the Mandrill of Smith were known to him by report. +Furthermore, the Abbe Prevost had translated a good deal of Purchas' +Pilgrims into French, in his 'Histoire generale des Voyages' (1748), +and there Buffon found a version of Andrew Battell's account of the +Pongo and the Engeco. All these data Buffon attempts to weld together +into harmony in his chapter entitled "Les Orang-outangs ou le Pongo et +le Jocko." To this title the following note is appended:-- + +"Orang-outang nom de cet animal aux Indes orientales: Pongo nom de cet +animal a Lowando Province de Congo. + +"Jocko, Enjocko, nom de cet animal a Congo que nous avons adopte. 'En' +est l'article que nous avons retranche." + +Thus it was that Andrew Battell's "Engeco" became metamorphosed into +"Jocko," and, in the latter shape, was spread all over the world, in +consequence of the extensive popularity of Buffon's works. The Abbe +Prevost and Buffon between them, however, did a good deal more +disfigurement to Battell's sober account than 'cutting off an article.' +Thus Battell's statement that the Pongos "cannot speake, and have no +understanding more than a beast," is rendered by Buffon "qu'il ne peut +parler 'quoiqu'il ait plus d'entendement que les autres animaux'"; and +again, Purchas' affirmation, "He told me in conference with him, that +one of these Pongos tooke a negro boy of his which lived a moneth with +them," stands in the French version, "un pongo lui enleva un petit +negre qui passa un 'an' entier dans la societe de ces animaux." + +After quoting the account of the great Pongo, Buffon justly remarks, +that all the 'Jockos' and 'Orangs' hitherto brought to Europe were +young; and he suggests that, in their adult condition, they might be as +big as the Pongo or 'great Orang'; so that, provisionally, he regarded +the Jockos, Orangs, and Pongos as all of one species. And perhaps this +was as much as the state of knowledge at the time warranted. But how +it came about that Buffon failed to perceive the similarity of Smith's +'Mandrill' to his own 'Jocko,' and confounded the former with so +totally different a creature as the blue-faced Baboon, is not so easily +intelligible. + +Twenty years later Buffon changed his opinion,* and expressed his belief +that the Orangs constituted a genus with two species,--a large one, the +Pongo of Battell, and a small one, the Jocko: that the small one +(Jocko) is the East Indian Orang; and that the young animals from +Africa, observed by himself and Tulpius, are simply young Pongos. + + [footnote] *'Histoire Naturelle', Suppl. tome 7eme, 1789. + +In the meanwhile, the Dutch naturalist, Vosmaer, gave, in 1778, a very +good account and figure of a young Orang, brought alive to Holland, and +his countryman, the famous anatomist, Peter Camper, published (1779) an +essay on the Orang-Utan of similar value to that of Tyson on the +Chimpanzee. He dissected several females and a male, all of which, from +the state of their skeleton and their dentition, he justly supposes to +have been young. However, judging by the analogy of man, he concludes +that they could not have exceeded four feet in height in the adult +condition. Furthermore, he is very clear as to the specific +distinctness of the true East Indian Orang. + +"The Orang," says he, "differs not only from the Pigmy of Tyson and from +the Orang of Tulpius by its peculiar colour and its long toes, but also +by its whole external form. Its arms, its hands, and its feet are +longer, while the thumbs, on the contrary, are much shorter, and the +great toes much smaller in proportion."* And again, "The true Orang, +that is to say, that of Asia, that of Borneo, is consequently not the +Pithecus, or tailless Ape, which the Greeks, and especially Galen, have +described. It is neither the Pongo nor the Jocko, nor the Orang of +Tulpius, nor the Pigmy of Tyson,--'it is an animal of a peculiar +species', as I shall prove in the clearest manner by the organs of +voice and the skeleton in the following chapters" (l. c. p. 64). + + [footnote] *Camper, 'Oeuvres', i. p. 56. + +A few years later, M. Radermacher, who held a high office in the +Government of the Dutch dominions in India, and was an active member of +the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences, published, in the second +part of the Transactions of that Society,* a Description of the Island +of Borneo, which was written between the years 1779 and 1781, and, among +much other interesting matter, contains some notes upon the Orang. The +small sort of Orang-Utan, viz. that of Vosmaer and of Edwards, he +says, is found only in Borneo, and chiefly about Banjermassing, +Mampauwa, and Landak. Of these he had seen some fifty during his +residence in the Indies; but none exceeded 2 1/2 feet in length. The +larger sort, often regarded as a chimaera, continues Radermacher, would +perhaps long have remained so, had it not been for the exertions of the +Resident at Rembang, M. Palm, who, on returning from Landak towards +Pontiana, shot one, and forwarded it to Batavia in spirit, for +transmission to Europe. + + [footnote] *Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap. + Tweede Deel. Derde Druk. 1826. + +Palm's letter describing the capture runs thus:--"Herewith I send your +Excellency, contrary to all expectation (since long ago I offered more +than a hundred ducats to the natives for an Orang-Utan of four or five +feet high) an Orang which I heard of this morning about eight o'clock. +For a long time we did our best to take the frightful beast alive in the +dense forest about half way to Landak. We forgot even to eat, so +anxious were we not to let him escape; but it was necessary to take +care that he did not revenge himself, as he kept continually breaking +off heavy pieces of wood and green branches, and dashing them at us. +This game lasted till four o'clock in the afternoon, when we determined +to shoot him; in which I succeeded very well, and indeed better than I +ever shot from a boat before; for the bullet went just into the side of +his chest, so that he was not much damaged. We got him into the prow +still living, and bound him fast, and next morning he died of his +wounds. All Pontiana came on board to see him when we arrived." Palm +gives his height from the head to the heel as 49 inches. + +FIG. 7.--The Pongo Skull, sent by Radermacher to Camper, after Camper's +original sketches, as reproduced by Lucae. + +A very intelligent German officer, Baron Von Wurmb, who at this time +held a post in the Dutch East India service, and was Secretary of the +Batavian Society, studied this animal, and his careful description of +it, entitled "Beschrijving van der Groote Borneosche Orang-outang of de +Oost-Indische Pongo," is contained in the same volume of the Batavian +Society's Transactions. After Von Wurmb had drawn up his description +he states, in a letter dated Batavia, Feb. 18, 1781,* that the specimen +was sent to Europe in brandy to be placed in the collection of the +Prince of Orange; "unfortunately," he continues, "we hear that the ship +has been wrecked." Von Wurmb died in the course of the year 1781, the +letter in which this passage occurs being the last he wrote; but in his +posthumous papers, published in the fourth part of the Transactions of +the Batavian Society, there is a brief description, with measurements, +of a female Pongo four feet high. + + [footnote] "Briefe des Herrn v. Wurmb und des H. Baron von + Wollzogen. Gotha, 1794." + +Did either of these original specimens, on which Von Wurmb's +descriptions are based, ever reach Europe? It is commonly supposed +that they did; but I doubt the fact. For, appended to the memoir 'De +l'Ourang-outang,' in the collected edition of Camper's works, tome i., +pp. 64-66, is a note by Camper himself, referring to Von Wurmb's +papers, and continuing thus:--"Heretofore, this kind of ape had never +been known in Europe. Radermacher has had the kindness to send me the +skull of one of these animals, which measured fifty-three inches, or +four feet five inches, in height. I have sent some sketches of it to M. +Soemmering at Mayence, which are better calculated, however, to give an +idea of the form than of the real size of the parts." + +These sketches have been reproduced by Fischer and by Lucae, and bear +date 1783, Soemmering having received them in 1784. Had either of Von +Wurmb's specimens reached Holland, they would hardly have been unknown +at this time to Camper, who, however, goes on to say--"It appears that +since this, some more of these monsters have been captured, for an +entire skeleton, very badly set up, which had been sent to the Museum of +the Prince of Orange, and which I saw only on the 27th of June, 1784, +was more than four feet high. I examined this skeleton again on the +19th December, 1785, after it had been excellently put to rights by the +ingenious Onymus." + +It appears evident, then, that this skeleton, which is doubtless that +which has always gone by the name of Wurmb's Pongo, is not that of the +animal described by him, though unquestionably similar in all essential +points. + +Camper proceeds to note some of the most important features of this +skeleton; promises to describe it in detail by-and-bye; and is +evidently in doubt as to the relation of this great 'Pongo' to his +"petit Orang." + +The promised further investigations were never carried out; and so it +happened that the Pongo of Von Wurmb took its place by the side of the +Chimpanzee, Gibbon, and Orang as a fourth and colossal species of +man-like Ape. And indeed nothing could look much less like the +Chimpanzees or the Orangs, then known, than the Pongo; for all the +specimens of Chimpanzee and Orang which had been observed were small of +stature, singularly human in aspect, gentle and docile; while Wurmb's +Pongo was a monster almost twice their size, of vast strength and +fierceness, and very brutal in expression; its great projecting muzzle, +armed with strong teeth, being further disfigured by the outgrowth of +the cheeks into fleshy lobes. + +Eventually, in accordance with the usual marauding habits of the +Revolutionary armies, the 'Pongo' skeleton was carried away from +Holland into France, and notices of it, expressly intended to +demonstrate its entire distinctness from the Orang and its affinity with +the baboons, were given, in 1798, by Geoffroy St. Hilaire and Cuvier. + +Even in Cuvier's 'Tableau Elementaire', and in the first edition of his +great work, the 'Regne Animal', the 'Pongo' is classed as a species of +Baboon. However, so early as 1818, it appears that Cuvier saw reason +to alter this opinion, and to adopt the view suggested several years +before by Blumenbach,* and after him by Tilesius, that the Bornean Pongo +is simply an adult Orang. In 1824, Rudolphi demonstrated, by the +condition of the dentition, more fully and completely than had been +done by his predecessors, that the Orangs described up to that time +were all young animals, and that the skull and teeth of the adult would +probably be such as those seen in the Pongo of Wurmb. In the second +edition of the 'Regne Animal' (1829), Cuvier infers, from the +'proportions of all the parts' and 'the arrangements of the foramina +and sutures of the head,' that the Pongo is the adult of the +Orang-Utan, 'at least of a very closely allied species,' and this +conclusion was eventually placed beyond all doubt by Professor Owen's +Memoir published in the 'Zoological Transactions' for 1835, and by +Temminck in his 'Monographies de Mammalogie'. Temminck's memoir is +remarkable for the completeness of the evidence which it affords as to +the modification which the form of the Orang undergoes according to age +and sex. Tiedemann first published an account of the brain of the +young Orang, while Sandifort, Muller and Schlegel, described the +muscles and the viscera of the adult, and gave the earliest detailed +and trustworthy history of the habits of the great Indian Ape in a +state of nature; and as important additions have been made by later +observers, we are at this moment better acquainted with the adult of +the Orang-Utan, than with that of any of the other greater man-like +Apes. + + [footnote] *See Blumenbach, 'Abbildungen Naturhistorichen + Gegenstande, No. 12, 1810; and Tilesius, Naturhistoriche + Fruchte der ersten Kaiserlich-Russischen Erdumsegelung', p. + 115, 1813. + +It is certainly the Pongo of Wurmb;* and it is as certainly not the +Pongo of Battell, seeing that the Orang-Utan is entirely confined to +the great Asiatic islands of Borneo and Sumatra. + + [footnote] *Speaking broadly and without prejudice to the + question, whether there be more than one species of Orang. + +And while the progress of discovery thus cleared up the history of the +Orang, it also became established that the only other man-like Apes in +the eastern world were the various species of Gibbon--Apes of smaller +stature, and therefore attracting less attention than the Orangs, +though they are spread over a much wider range of country, and are hence +more accessible to observation. + +Although the geographical area inhabited by the 'Pongo' and Engeco of +Battell is so much nearer to Europe than that in which the Orang and +Gibbon are found, our acquaintance with the African Apes has been of +slower growth; indeed, it is only within the last few years that the +truthful story of the old English adventurer has been rendered fully +intelligible. It was not until 1835 that the skeleton of the adult +Chimpanzee became known, by the publication of Professor Owen's +above-mentioned very excellent memoir 'On the osteology of the +Chimpanzee and Orang', in the 'Zoological Transactions'--a memoir which, +by the accuracy of its descriptions, the carefulness of its +comparisons, and the excellence of its figures, made an epoch in the +history of our knowledge of the bony framework, not only of the +Chimpanzee, but of all the anthropoid Apes. + +By the investigations herein detailed, it became evident that the old +Chimpanzee acquired a size and aspect as different from those of the +young known to Tyson, to Buffon, and to Traill, as those of the old +Orang from the young Orang; and the subsequent very important +researches of Messrs. Savage and Wyman, the American missionary and +anatomist, have not only confirmed this conclusion, but have added many +new details.* + + [footnote] *See "Observations on the external characters and + habits of the Troglodytes niger, by Thomas N. Savage, M.D., + and on its organization by Jeffries Wyman, M.D.," 'Boston + Journal of Natural History', vol. iv., 1843-4; and + "External characters, habits, and osteology of Troglodytes + Gorilla," by the same authors, 'ibid'., vol. v., 1847. + +One of the most interesting among the many valuable discoveries made by +Dr. Thomas Savage is the fact, that the natives in the Gaboon country +at the present day, apply to the Chimpanzee a name--"Enche-eko"--which +is obviously identical with the "Engeko" of Battell; a discovery which +has been confirmed by all later inquirers. Battell's "lesser monster" +being thus proved to be a veritable existence, of course a strong +presumption arose that his "greater monster," the 'Pongo,' would sooner +or later be discovered. And, indeed, a modern traveller, Bowdich, had, +in 1819, found strong evidence, among the natives, of the existence of a +second great Ape, called the 'Ingena,' "five feet high, and four across +the shoulders," the builder of a rude house, on the outside of which it +slept. + +In 1847, Dr. Savage had the good fortune to make another and most +important addition to our knowledge of the man-like Apes; for, being +unexpectedly detained at the Gaboon river, he saw in the house of the +Rev. Mr. Wilson, a missionary resident there, "a skull represented by +the natives to be a monkey-like animal, remarkable for its size, +ferocity, and habits." From the contour of the skull, and the +information derived from several intelligent natives, "I was induced," +says Dr. Savage (using the term Orang in its old general sense) "to +believe that it belonged to a new species of Orang. I expressed this +opinion to Mr. Wilson, with a desire for further investigation; and, if +possible, to decide the point by the inspection of a specimen alive or +dead." The result of the combined exertions of Messrs. Savage and +Wilson was not only the obtaining of a very full account of the habits +of this new creature, but a still more important service to science, +the enabling the excellent American anatomist already mentioned, +Professor Wyman, to describe, from ample materials, the distinctive +osteological characters of the new form. This animal was called by the +natives of the Gaboon "Enge-ena," a name obviously identical with the +"Ingena" of Bowdich; and Dr. Savage arrived at the conviction that this +last discovered of all the great Apes was the long-sought "Pongo" of +Battell. + +The justice of this conclusion, indeed, is beyond doubt--for not only +does the 'Enge-ena' agree with Battell's "greater monster" in its +hollow eyes, its great stature, and its dun or iron-grey colour, but +the only other man-like Ape which inhabits these latitudes--the +Chimpanzee--is at once identified, by its smaller size, as the "lesser +monster," and is excluded from any possibility of being the 'Pongo,' by +the fact that it is black and not dun, to say nothing of the important +circumstance already mentioned that it still retains the name of +'Engeko,' or "Enche-eko," by which Battell knew it. + +In seeking for a specific name for the "Enge-ena," however, Dr. Savage +wisely avoided the much misused 'Pongo'; but finding in the ancient +Periplus of Hanno the word "Gorilla" applied to certain hairy savage +people, discovered by the Carthaginian voyager in an island on the +African coast, he attached the specific name "Gorilla" to his new ape, +whence arises its present well-known appellation. But Dr. Savage, more +cautious than some of his successors, by no means identifies his ape +with Hanno's "wild men." He merely says that the latter were "probably +one of the species of the Orang;" and I quite agree with M. Brulle, that +there is no ground for identifying the modern 'Gorilla' with that of +the Carthaginian admiral. + +Since the memoir of Savage and Wyman was published, the skeleton of the +Gorilla has been investigated by Professor Owen and by the late +Professor Duvernoy, of the Jardin des Plantes, the latter having +further supplied a valuable account of the muscular system and of many +of the other soft parts; while African missionaries and travellers have +confirmed and expanded the account originally given of the habits of +this great man-like Ape, which has had the singular fortune of being +the first to be made known to the general world and the last to be +scientifically investigated. + +Two centuries and a half have passed away since Battell told his stories +about the 'greater' and the 'lesser monsters' to Purchas, and it has +taken nearly that time to arrive at the clear result that there are +four distinct kinds of Anthropoids--in Eastern Asia, the Gibbons and the +Orangs; in Western Africa, the Chimpanzees and the Gorilla. + +The man-like Apes, the history of whose discovery has just been +detailed, have certain characters of structure and of distribution in +common. Thus they all have the same number of teeth as man--possessing +four incisors, two canines, four false molars, and six true molars in +each jaw, or 32 teeth in all, in the adult condition; while the milk +dentition consists of 20 teeth--or four incisors, two canines, and four +molars in each jaw. They are what are called catarrhine Apes--that is, +their nostrils have a narrow partition and look downwards; and, +furthermore, their arms are always longer than their legs, the +difference being sometimes greater and sometimes less; so that if the +four were arranged in the order of the length of their arms in +proportion to that of their legs, we should have this series--Orang (1 +4/9:1), Gibbon (1 1/4:1), Gorilla (1 1/5:1), Chimpanzee (1 1/16:1). In +all, the fore limbs are terminated by hands, provided with longer or +shorter thumbs; while the great toe of the foot, always smaller than in +Man, is far more movable than in him and can be opposed, like a thumb, +to the rest of the foot. None of these apes have tails, and none of +them possess the cheek pouches common among monkeys. Finally, they are +all inhabitants of the old world. + +The Gibbons are the smallest, slenderest, and longest-limbed of the +man-like apes: their arms are longer in proportion to their bodies than +those of any of the other man-like Apes, so that they can touch the +ground when erect; their hands are longer than their feet, and they are +the only Anthropoids which possess callosities like the lower monkeys. +They are variously coloured. The Orangs have arms which reach to the +ankles in the erect position of the animal; their thumbs and great toes +are very short, and their feet are longer than their hands. They are +covered with reddish brown hair, and the sides of the face, in adult +males, are commonly produced into two crescentic, flexible +excrescences, like fatty tumours. The Chimpanzees have arms which +reach below the knees; they have large thumbs and great toes, their +hands are longer than their feet; and their hair is black, while the +skin of the face is pale. The Gorilla, lastly, has arms which reach to +the middle of the leg, large thumbs and great toes, feet longer than +the hands, a black face, and dark-grey or dun hair. + +For the purpose which I have at present in view, it is unnecessary that +I should enter into any further minutiae respecting the distinctive +characters of the genera and species into which these man-like Apes are +divided by naturalists. Suffice it to say, that the Orangs and the +Gibbons constitute the distinct genera, 'Simia' and 'Hylobates'; while +the Chimpanzees and Gorillas are by some regarded simply as distinct +species of one genus, 'Troglodytes'; by others as distinct +genera--'Troglodytes' being reserved for the Chimpanzees, and 'Gorilla' +for the Enge-ena or Pongo. + +Sound knowledge respecting the habits and mode of life of the man-like +Apes has been even more difficult of attainment than correct +information regarding their structure. + +Once in a generation, a Wallace may be found physically, mentally, and +morally qualified to wander unscathed through the tropical wilds of +America and of Asia; to form magnificent collections as he wanders; and +withal to think out sagaciously the conclusions suggested by his +collections: but, to the ordinary explorer or collector, the dense +forests of equatorial Asia and Africa, which constitute the favourite +habitation of the Orang, the Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla, present +difficulties of no ordinary magnitude: and the man who risks his life by +even a short visit to the malarious shores of those regions may well be +excused if he shrinks from facing the dangers of the interior; if he +contents himself with stimulating the industry of the better seasoned +natives, and collecting and collating the more or less mythical reports +and traditions with which they are too ready to supply him. + +In such a manner most of the earlier accounts of the habits of the +man-like Apes originated; and even now a good deal of what passes +current must be admitted to have no very safe foundation. The best +information we possess is that, based almost wholly on direct European +testimony respecting the Gibbons; the next best evidence relates to the +Orangs; while our knowledge of the habits of the Chimpanzee and the +Gorilla stands much in need of support and enlargement by additional +testimony from instructed European eye-witnesses. + +It will therefore be convenient in endeavouring to form a notion of what +we are justified in believing about these animals, to commence with the +best known man-like Apes, the Gibbons and Orangs; and to make use of +the perfectly reliable information respecting them as a sort of +criterion of the probable truth or falsehood of assertions respecting +the others. + +Of the GIBBONS, half a dozen species are found scattered over the +Asiatic islands, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and through Malacca, Siam, +Arracan, and an uncertain extent of Hindostan, on the main land of +Asia. The largest attain a few inches above three feet in height, from +the crown to the heel, so that they are shorter than the other man-like +Apes; while the slenderness of their bodies renders their mass far +smaller in proportion even to this diminished height. + +Dr. Salomon Muller, an accomplished Dutch naturalist, who lived for many +years in the Eastern Archipelago, and to the results of whose personal +experience I shall frequently have occasion to refer, states that the +Gibbons are true mountaineers, loving the slopes and edges of the +hills, though they rarely ascend beyond the limit of the fig-trees. All +day long they haunt the tops of the tall trees; and though, towards +evening, they descend in small troops to the open ground, no sooner do +they spy a man than they dart up the hill-sides, and disappear in the +darker valleys. + +All observers testify to the prodigious volume of voice possessed by +these animals. According to the writer whom I have just cited, in one +of them, the Siamang, "the voice is grave and penetrating, resembling +the sounds goek, goek, goek, goek, goek ha ha ha ha haaaaa, and may +easily be heard at a distance of half a league." While the cry is being +uttered, the great membranous bag under the throat which communicates +with the organ of voice, the so-called "laryngeal sac," becomes greatly +distended, diminishing again when the creature relapses into silence. + +M. Duvaucel, likewise, affirms that the cry of the Siamang may be heard +for miles--making the woods ring again. So Mr. Martin* describes the +cry of the agile Gibbon as "overpowering and deafening" in a room, and +"from its strength, well calculated for resounding through the vast +forests." Mr. Waterhouse, an accomplished musician as well as +zoologist, says, "The Gibbon's voice is certainly much more powerful +than that of any singer I have ever heard." And yet it is to be +recollected that this animal is not half the height of, and far less +bulky in proportion than, a man. + + [footnote] *'Man and Monkies', p. 423. + +There is good testimony that various species of Gibbon readily take to +the erect posture. Mr. George Bennett,* a very excellent observer, in +describing the habits of a male 'Hylobates syndactylus' which remained +for some time in his possession, says: "He invariably walks in the +erect posture when on a level surface; and then the arms either hang +down, enabling him to assist himself with his knuckles; or what is more +usual, he keeps his arms uplifted in nearly an erect position, with the +hands pendent ready to seize a rope, and climb up on the approach of +danger or on the obtrusion of strangers. He walks rather quick in the +erect posture, but with a waddling gait, and is soon run down if, +whilst pursued, he has no opportunity of escaping by climbing.... When +he walks in the erect posture he turns the leg and foot outwards, which +occasions him to have a waddling gait and to seem bow-legged." + +{footnote] *'Wanderings in New South Wales', vol. ii. chap. viii., +1834. + +Dr. Burrough states of another Gibbon, the Horlack or Hooluk: "They +walk erect; and when placed on the floor, or in an open field, balance +themselves very prettily, by raising their hands over their head and +slightly bending the arm at the wrist and elbow, and then run tolerably +fast, rocking from side to side; and, if urged to greater speed, they +let fall their hands to the ground, and assist themselves forward, +rather jumping than running, still keeping the body, however, nearly +erect." + +Somewhat different evidence, however, is given by Dr. Winslow Lewis:* + +"Their only manner of walking was on their posterior or inferior +extremities, the others being raised upwards to preserve their +equilibrium, as rope-dancers are assisted by long poles at fairs. Their +progression was not by placing one foot before the other, but by +simultaneously using both, as in jumping." Dr. Salomon Muller also +states that the Gibbons progress along the ground by a short series of +tottering jumps, effected only by the hind limbs, the body being held +altogether upright. + + [footnote] *'Boston Journal of Natural History', vol. i., 1834. + +But Mr. Martin (l. c. p. 418), who also speaks from direct observation, +says of the Gibbons generally: + +"Pre-eminently qualified for arboreal habits, and displaying among the +branches amazing activity, the Gibbons are not so awkward or +embarrassed on a level surface as might be imagined. They walk erect, +with a waddling or unsteady gait, but at a quick pace; the equilibrium +of the body requiring to be kept up, either by touching the ground with +the knuckles, first on one side then on the other, or by uplifting the +arms so as to poise it. As with the Chimpanzee, the whole of the +narrow, long sole of the foot is placed upon the ground at once and +raised at once, without any elasticity of step." + +FIG. 8.--Gibbon ('H. pileatus'), after Wolf. + +After this mass of concurrent and independent testimony, it cannot +reasonably be doubted that the Gibbons commonly and habitually assume +the erect attitude. + +But level ground is not the place where these animals can display their +very remarkable and peculiar locomotive powers, and that prodigious +activity which almost tempts one to rank them among flying, rather than +among ordinary climbing mammals. + +Mr. Martin (l.c. p. 430) has given so excellent and graphic an account +of the movements of a 'Hylobates agilis', living in the Zoological +Gardens, in 1840, that I will quote it in full: + +"It is almost impossible to convey in words an idea of the quickness and +graceful address of her movements: they may indeed be termed aerial, as +she seems merely to touch in her progress the branches among which she +exhibits her evolutions. In these feats her hands and arms are the +sole organs of locomotion; her body hanging as if suspended by a rope, +sustained by one hand (the right for example) she launches herself, by +an energetic movement, to a distant branch, which she catches with the +left hand; but her hold is less than momentary: the impulse for the +next launch is acquired: the branch then aimed at is attained by the +right hand again, and quitted instantaneously, and so on, in alternate +succession. In this manner spaces of twelve and eighteen feet are +cleared, with the greatest ease and uninterruptedly, for hours +together, without the slightest appearance of fatigue being manifested; +and it is evident that, if more space could be allowed, distances very +greatly exceeding eighteen feet would be as easily cleared; so that +Duvaucel's assertion that he has seen these animals launch themselves +from one branch to another, forty feet asunder, startling as it is, may +be well credited. Sometimes, on seizing a branch in her progress, she +will throw herself, by the power of one arm only, completely round it, +making a revolution with such rapidity as almost to deceive the eye, +and continue her progress with undiminished velocity. It is singular +to observe how suddenly this Gibbon can stop, when the impetus given by +the rapidity and distance of her swinging leaps would seem to require a +gradual abatement of her movements. In the very midst of her flight a +branch is seized, the body raised, and she is seen, as if by magic, +quietly seated on it, grasping it with her feet. As suddenly she again +throws herself into action. + +"The following facts will convey some notion of her dexterity and +quickness. A live bird was let loose in her apartment; she marked its +flight, made a long swing to a distant branch, caught the bird with one +hand in her passage, and attained the branch with her other hand; her +aim, both at the bird and at the branch, being as successful as if one +object only had engaged her attention. It may be added that she +instantly bit off the head of the bird, picked its feathers, and then +threw it down without attempting to eat it. + +"On another occasion this animal swung herself from a perch, across a +passage at least twelve feet wide, against a window which it was +thought would be immediately broken: but not so; to the surprise of +all, she caught the narrow framework between the panes with her hand, in +an instant attained the proper impetus, and sprang back again to the +cage she had left--a feat requiring not only great strength, but the +nicest precision." + +The Gibbons appear to be naturally very gentle, but there is very good +evidence that they will bite severely when irritated--a female +'Hylobates agilis' having so severely lacerated one man with her long +canines, that he died; while she had injured others so much that, by way +of precaution, these formidable teeth had been filed down; but, if +threatened, she would still turn on her keeper. The Gibbons eat +insects, but appear generally to avoid animal food. A Siamang, +however, was seen by Mr. Bennett to seize and devour greedily a live +lizard. They commonly drink by dipping their fingers in the liquid and +then licking them. It is asserted that they sleep in a sitting +posture. + +Duvaucel affirms that he has seen the females carry their young to the +waterside and there wash their faces, in spite of resistance and +cries. They are gentle and affectionate in captivity--full of tricks +and pettishness, like spoiled children, and yet not devoid of a certain +conscience, as an anecdote, told by Mr. Bennett (l. c. p. 156), will +show. It would appear that his Gibbon had a peculiar inclination for +disarranging things in the cabin. Among these articles, a piece of +soap would especially attract his notice, and for the removal of this he +had been once or twice scolded. "One morning," says Mr. Bennett, "I +was writing, the ape being present in the cabin, when casting my eyes +towards him, I saw the little fellow taking the soap. I watched him +without his perceiving that I did so: and he occasionally would cast a +furtive glance towards the place where I sat. I pretended to write; +he, seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, and moved away with it in +his paw. When he had walked half the length of the cabin, I spoke +quietly, without frightening him. The instant he found I saw him, he +walked back again, and deposited the soap nearly in the same place from +whence he had taken it. There was certainly something more than +instinct in that action: he evidently betrayed a consciousness of +having done wrong both by his first and last actions--and what is reason +if that is not an exercise of it?" + +The most elaborate account of the natural history of the ORANG-UTAN +extant, is that given in the "Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke +Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeesche Bezittingen (1839-45)," by +Dr. Salomon Muller and Dr. Schlegel, and I shall base what I have to +say, upon this subject almost entirely on their statements, adding, here +and there, particulars of interest from the writings of Brooke, +Wallace, and others. + +The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet in height, but the +body is very bulky, measuring two-thirds of the height in +circumference.* + + [footnote] *The largest Orang-Utan, cited by Temminck, + measured, when standing upright, 4 ft.; but he mentions + having just received news of the capture of an Orang 5 ft. + 3 in. high. Schlegel and Juller say that their largest old + male measured, upright, 1.25 Netherlands "el"; and from the + crown to the end of the toes, 1.5 el; the circumference of + the body being about 1 el. The largest old female was 1.09 + el high, when standing. The adult skeleton in the College + of Surgeons' Museum, if set upright, would stand 3 ft. 6-8 + in. from crown to sole. Dr. Humphry gives 3 ft. 8 in. as + the mean height of two Orangs. Of seventeen Orangs + examined by Mr. Wallace, the largest was 4 ft. 2 in. high, + from the heel to the crown of the head. Mr. Spencer St. + John, however, in his 'Life in the Forests of the Far + East', tells us of an Orang of "5 ft. 2 in., measuring + fairly from the head to the heel," 15 in. across the face, + and 12 in. round the wrist. It does not appear, however, + that Mr. St. John measured this Orang himself. + +The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo, and is common in +neither of these islands--in both of which it occurs always in low, +flat plains, never in the mountains. It loves the densest and most +sombre of the forests, which extend from the sea-shore inland, and thus +is found only in the eastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests +occur, though, occasionally, it strays over to the western side. + +On the other hand, it is generally distributed through Borneo, except in +the mountains, or where the population is dense. In favourable places, +the hunter may, by good fortune, see three or four in a day. + +FIG. 9.-An adult male Orang-utan, after Muller and Schlegel. + +Except in the pairing time, the old males usually live by themselves. +The old females, and the immature males, on the other hand, are often +met with in twos and threes; and the former occasionally have young +with them, though the pregnant females usually separate themselves, and +sometimes remain apart after they have given birth to their offspring. +The young Orangs seem to remain unusually long under their mother's +protection, probably in consequence of their slow growth. While +climbing, the mother always carries her young against her bosom, the +young holding on by his mother's hair.* At what time of life the +Orang-Utan becomes capable of propagation, and how long the females go +with young, is unknown, but it is probable that they are not adult +until they arrive at ten or fifteen years of age. A female which lived +for five years at Batavia, had not attained one-third the height of the +wild females. It is probable that, after reaching adult years, they go +on growing, though slowly, and that they live to forty or fifty years. +The Dyaks tell of old Orangs, which have not only lost all their teeth, +but which find it so troublesome to climb, that they maintain themselves +on windfalls and juicy herbage. + + [footnote] *See Mr. Wallace's account of an infant + "Orang-utan," in the 'Annals of Natural History' for 1856. + Mr. Wallace provided his interesting charge with an + artificial mother of buffalo-skin, but the cheat was too + successful. The infant's entire experience led it to + associate teats with hair, and feeling the latter, it spent + its existence in vain endeavours to discover the former. + +The Orang is sluggish, exhibiting none of that marvellous activity +characteristic of the Gibbons. Hunger alone seems to stir him to +exertion, and when it is stilled, he relapses into repose. When the +animal sits, it curves its back and bows its head, so as to look +straight down on the ground; sometimes it holds on with its hands by a +higher branch, sometimes lets them hang phlegmatically down by its +side--and in these positions the Orang will remain, for hours together, +in the same spot, almost without stirring, and only now and then giving +utterance to its deep, growling voice. By day, he usually climbs from +one tree-top to another, and only at night descends to the ground, and +if then threatened with danger, he seeks refuge among the underwood. +When not hunted, he remains a long time in the same locality, and +sometimes stops for many days on the same tree--a firm place among its +branches serving him for a bed. It is rare for the Orang to pass the +night in the summit of a large tree, probably because it is too windy +and cold there for him; but, as soon as night draws on, he descends from +the height and seeks out a fit bed in the lower and darker part, or in +the leafy top of a small tree, among which he prefers Nibong Palms, +Pandani, or one of those parasitic Orchids which give the primeval +forests of Borneo so characteristic and striking an appearance. But +wherever he determines to sleep, there he prepares himself a sort of +nest: little boughs and leaves are drawn together round the selected +spot, and bent crosswise over one another; while to make the bed soft, +great leaves of Ferns, of Orchids, of 'Pandanus fascicularis', 'Nipa +fruticans', etc., are laid over them. Those which Muller saw, many of +them being very fresh, were situated at a height of ten to twenty-five +feet above the ground, and had a circumference, on the average, of two +or three feet. Some were packed many inches thick with 'Pandanus' +leaves; others were remarkable only for the cracked twigs, which, +united in a common centre, formed a regular platform. "The rude +'hut'," says Sir James Brooke, "which they are stated to build in the +trees, would be more properly called a seat or nest, for it has no roof +or cover of any sort. The facility with which they form this nest is +curious, and I had an opportunity of seeing a wounded female weave the +branches together and seat herself, within a minute." + +According to the Dyaks the Orang rarely leaves his bed before the sun is +well above the horizon and has dissipated the mists. He gets up about +nine, and goes to bed again about five; but sometimes not till late in +the twilight. He lies sometimes on his back; or, by way of change, +turns on one side or the other, drawing his limbs up to his body, and +resting his head on his hand. When the night is cold, windy, or rainy, +he usually covers his body with a heap of 'Pandanus', 'Nipa', or Fern +leaves, like those of which his bed is made, and he is especially +careful to wrap up his head in them. It is this habit of covering +himself up which has probably led to the fable that the Orang builds +huts in the trees. + +Although the Orang resides mostly amid the boughs of great trees, during +the daytime, he is very rarely seen squatting on a thick branch, as +other apes, and particularly the Gibbons, do. The Orang, on the +contrary, confines himself to the slender leafy branches, so that he is +seen right at the top of the trees, a mode of life which is closely +related to the constitution of his hinder limbs, and especially to that +of his seat. For this is provided with no callosities, such as are +possessed by many of the lower apes, and even by the Gibbons; and those +bones of the pelvis, which are termed the ischia, and which form the +solid framework of the surface on which the body rests in the sitting +posture, are not expanded like those of the apes which possess +callosities, but are more like those of man. + +An Orang climbs so slowly and cautiously,* as, in this act, to resemble +a man more than an ape, taking great care of his feet, so that injury +of them seems to affect him far more than it does other apes. Unlike +the Gibbons, whose forearms do the greater part of the work, as they +swing from branch to branch, the Orang never makes even the smallest +jump. In climbing, he moves alternately one hand and one foot, or, +after having laid fast hold with the hands, he draws up both feet +together. In passing from one tree to another, he always seeks out a +place where the twigs of both come close together, or interlace. Even +when closely pursued, his circumspection is amazing: he shakes the +branches to see if they will bear him, and then bending an overhanging +bough down by throwing his weight gradually along it, he makes a bridge +from the tree he wishes to quit to the next.** + + [footnote] * "They are the slowest and least active of all + the monkey tribe, and their motions are surprisingly + awkward and uncouth."--Sir James Brooke, in the + 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society', 1841. + + [footnote] **Mr. Wallace's account of the progression of the + Orang almost exactly corresponds with this. + +On the ground the Orang always goes laboriously and shakily, on all +fours. At starting he will run faster than a man, though he may soon +be overtaken. The very long arms which, when he runs, are but little +bent, raise the body of the Orang remarkably, so that he assumes much +the posture of a very old man bent down by age, and making his way +along by the help of a stick. In walking, the body is usually directed +straight forward, unlike the other apes, which run more or less +obliquely; except the Gibbons, who in these, as in so many other +respects, depart remarkably from their fellows. + +The Orang cannot put its feet flat on the ground, but is supported upon +their outer edges, the heel resting more on the ground, while the +curved toes partly rest upon the ground by the upper side of their +first joint, the two outermost toes of each foot completely resting on +this surface. The hands are held in the opposite manner, their inner +edges serving as the chief support. The fingers are then bent out in +such a manner that their foremost joints, especially those of the two +innermost fingers, rest upon the ground by their upper sides, while the +point of the free and straight thumb serves as an additional fulcrum. + +The Orang never stands on its hind legs, and all the pictures, +representing it as so doing, are as false as the assertion that it +defends itself with sticks, and the like. + +The long arms are of especial use, not only in climbing, but in the +gathering of food from boughs to which the animal could not trust his +weight. Figs, blossoms, and young leaves of various kinds, constitute +the chief nutriment of the Orang; but strips of bamboo two or three +feet long were found in the stomach of a male. They are not known to +eat living animals. + +Although, when taken young, the Orang-Utan soon becomes domesticated, +and indeed seems to court human society, it is naturally a very wild +and shy animal, though apparently sluggish and melancholy. The Dyaks +affirm, that when the old males are wounded with arrows only, they will +occasionally leave the trees and rush raging upon their enemies, whose +sole safety lies in instant flight, as they are sure to be killed if +caught.* + + [footnote] *Sir James Brooke, in a letter to Mr. Waterhouse, + published in the proceedings of the Zoological Society for + 1841, says:--"On the habits of the Orangs, as far as I have + been able to observe them, I may remark that they are as + dull and slothful as can well be conceived, and on no + occasion, when pursuing them, did they move so fast as to + preclude my keeping pace with them easily through a + moderately clear forest; and even when obstructions below + (such as wading up to the neck) allowed them to get away + some distance, they were sure to stop and allow me to come + up. I never observed the slightest attempt at defence, and + the wood which sometimes rattled about our ears was broken + by their weight, and not thrown, as some persons + represent. If pushed to extremity, however, the 'Pappan' + could not be otherwise than formidable, and one unfortunate + man, who, with a party, was trying to catch a large one + alive, lost two of his fingers, besides being severely + bitten on the face, whilst the animal finally beat off his + pursuers and escaped." Mr. Wallace, on the other hand, + affirms that he has several times observed them throwing + down branches when pursued. "It is true he does not throw + them 'at' a person, but casts them down vertically; for it + is evident that a bough cannot be thrown to any distance + from the top of a lofty tree. 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, which 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 intervals a loud pumping + grunt, and evidently meaning mischief."--"On the Habits of + the Orang-Utan," 'Annals of Nat. History, 1856. This + statement, it will be observed, is quite in accordance with + that contained in the letter of the Resident Palm quoted + above (p. 210). + +But, though possessed of immense strength, it is rare for the Orang to +attempt to defend itself, especially when attacked with fire-arms. On +such occasions he endeavours to hide himself, or to escape along the +topmost branches of the trees, breaking off and throwing down the +boughs as he goes. When wounded he betakes himself to the highest +attainable point of the tree, and emits a singular cry, consisting at +first of high notes, which at length deepen into a low roar, not unlike +that of a panther. While giving out the high notes the Orang thrusts +out his lips into a funnel shape; but in uttering the low notes he +holds his mouth wide open, and at the same time the great throat bag, +or laryngeal sac, becomes distended. + +According to the Dyaks, the only animal the Orang measures his strength +with is the crocodile, who occasionally seizes him on his visits to the +water side. But they say that the Orang is more than a match for his +enemy, and beats him to death, or rips up his throat by pulling the +jaws asunder! + +Much of what has been here stated was probably derived by Dr. Muller +from the reports of his Dyak hunters; but a large male, four feet high, +lived in captivity, under his observation, for a month, and receives a +very bad character. + +"He was a very wild beast," says Muller, "of prodigious strength, and +false and wicked to the last degree. If any one approached he rose up +slowly with a low growl, fixed his eyes in the direction in which he +meant to make his attack, slowly passed his hand between the bars of +his cage, and then extending his long arm, gave a sudden grip--usually +at the face." He never tried to bite (though Orangs will bite one +another), his great weapons of offence and defence being his hands. + +His intelligence was very great; and Muller remarks, that though the +faculties of the Orang have been estimated too highly, yet Cuvier, had +he seen this specimen, would not have considered its intelligence to be +only a little higher than that of the dog. + +His hearing was very acute, but the sense of vision seemed to be less +perfect. The under lip was the great organ of touch, and played a very +important part in drinking, being thrust out like a trough, so as +either to catch the falling rain, or to receive the contents of the +half cocoa-nut shell full of water with which the Orang was supplied, +and which, in drinking, he poured into the trough thus formed. + +In Borneo the Orang-Utan of the Malays goes by the name of "Mias" among +the Dyaks, who distinguish several kinds as 'Mias Pappan', or 'Zimo', +'Mias Kassu', and 'Mias Rambi'. Whether these are distinct species, +however, or whether they are mere races, and how far any of them are +identical with the Sumatran Orang, as Mr. Wallace thinks the Mias Pappan +to be, are problems which are at present undecided; and the variability +of these great apes is so extensive, that the settlement of the +question is a matter of great difficulty. Of the form called "Mias +Pappan," Mr. Wallace* observes, "It is known by its large size, and by +the lateral expansion of the face into fatty protuberances, or ridges, +over the temporal muscles, which has been mis-termed 'callosities', as +they are perfectly soft, smooth, and flexible. Five of this form, +measured by me, varied only from 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches in +height, from the heel to the crown of the head, the girth of the body +from 3 feet to 3 feet 7 1/2 inches, and the extent of the outstretched +arms from 7 feet 2 inches to 7 feet 6 inches; the width of the face from +10 to 13 1/4 inches. The colour and length of the hair varied in +different individuals, and in different parts of the same individual; +some possessed a rudimentary nail on the great toe, others none at all; +but they otherwise present no external differences on which to +establish even varieties of a species. + + [footnote] *On the Orang-Utan, or Mias of Borneo, 'Annals of + Natural History', 1856. + +"Yet, when we examine the crania of these individuals, we find +remarkable differences of form, proportion, and dimension, no two being +exactly alike. The slope of the profile, and the projection of the +muzzle, together with the size of the cranium, offer differences as +decided as those existing between the most strongly marked forms of the +Caucasian and African crania in the human species. The orbits vary in +width and height, the cranial ridge is either single or double, either +much or little developed, and the zygomatic aperture varies considerably +in size. This variation in the proportions of the crania enables us +satisfactorily to explain the marked difference presented by the +single-crested and double-crested skulls, which have been thought to +prove the existence of two large species of Orang. The external surface +of the skull varies considerably in size, as do also the zygomatic +aperture and the temporal muscle; but they bear no necessary relation +to each other, a small muscle often existing with a large cranial +surface, and 'vice versa'. Now, those skulls which have the largest +and strongest jaws and the widest zygomatic aperture, have the muscles +so large that they meet on the crown of the skull, and deposit the bony +ridge which supports them, and which is the highest in that which has +the smallest cranial surface. In those which combine a large surface +with comparatively weak jaws, and small zygomatic aperture, the +muscles, on each side, do not extend to the crown, a space of from l to +2 inches remaining between them, and along their margins small ridges +are formed. Intermediate forms are found, in which the ridges meet +only in the hinder part of the skull. The form and size of the ridges +are therefore independent of age, being sometimes more strongly +developed in the less aged animal. Professor Temminck states that the +series of skulls in the Leyden Museum shows the same result." + +Mr. Wallace observed two male adult Orangs (Mias Kassu of the Dyaks), +however, so very different from any of these that he concludes them to +be specifically distinct; they were respectively 3 feet 8 1/2 inches +and 3 feet 9 1/2 inches high, and possessed no sign of the cheek +excrescences, but otherwise resembled the larger kinds. The skull has +no crest, but two bony ridges, 1 3/4 inches to 2 inches apart, as in +the 'Simia morio' of Professor Owen. The teeth, however; are immense, +equalling or surpassing those of the other species. The females of +both these kinds, according to Mr. Wallace, are devoid of excrescences, +and resemble the smaller males, but are shorter by 1 1/2 to 3 inches, +and their canine teeth are comparatively small, subtruncated and +dilated at the base, as in the so-called 'Simia morio', which is, in +all probability, the skull of a female of the same species as the +smaller males. Both males and females of this smaller species are +distinguishable, according to Mr. Wallace, by the comparatively large +size of the middle incisors of the upper jaw. + +So far as I am aware, no one has attempted to dispute the accuracy of +the statements which I have just quoted regarding the habits of the two +Asiatic man-like Apes; and if true, they must be admitted as evidence, +that such an Ape-- + + Firstly, May readily move along the ground in the erect, or + semi-erect, position, and without direct support from its arms. + + Secondly, That it may possess an extremely loud voice, so loud as to + be readily heard one or two miles. + + Thirdly, That it may be capable of great viciousness and violence + when irritated: and this is especially true of adult males. + + Fourthly, That it may build a nest to sleep in. + +Such being well established facts respecting the Asiatic Anthropoids, +analogy alone might justify us in expecting the African species to +offer similar peculiarities, separately or combined; or, at any rate, +would destroy the force of any attempted 'a priori' argument against +such direct testimony as might be adduced in favour of their +existence. And, if the organization of any of the African Apes could +be demonstrated to fit it better than either of its Asiatic allies for +the erect position and for efficient attack, there would be still less +reason for doubting its occasional adoption of the upright attitude or +of aggressive proceedings. + +From the time of Tyson and Tulpius downwards, the habits of the young +CHIMPANZEE in a state of captivity have been abundantly reported and +commented upon. But trustworthy evidence as to the manners and customs +of adult anthropoids of this species, in their native woods, was almost +wanting up to the time of the publication of the paper by Dr. Savage, +to which I have already referred; containing notes of the observations +which he made, and of the information which he collected from sources +which he considered trustworthy, while resident at Cape Palmas, at the +north-western limit of the Bight of Benin. + +The adult Chimpanzees measured by Dr. Savage, never exceeded, though the +males may almost attain, five feet in height. + +"When at rest, the sitting posture is that generally assumed. They are +sometimes seen standing and walking, but when thus detected, they +immediately take to all fours, and flee from the presence of the +observer. Such is their organization that they cannot stand erect, but +lean forward. Hence they are seen, when standing, with the hands +clasped over the occiput, or the lumbar region, which would seem +necessary to balance or ease of posture. + +"The toes of the adult are strongly flexed and turned inwards, and +cannot be perfectly straightened. In the attempt the skin gathers into +thick folds on the back, shewing that the full expansion of the foot, +as is necessary in walking, is unnatural. The natural position is on +all fours, the body anteriorly resting upon the knuckles. These are +greatly enlarged, with the skin protuberant and thickened like the sole +of the foot. + +"They are expert climbers, as one would suppose from their organization. +In their gambols they swing from limb to limb to a great distance, and +leap with astonishing agility. It is not unusual to see the 'old +folks' (in the language of an observer) sitting under a tree regaling +themselves with fruit and friendly chat, while their 'children' are +leaping around them, and swinging from tree to tree with boisterous +merriment. + +"As seen here, they cannot be called 'gregarious', seldom more than +five, or ten at most, being found together. It has been said, on good +authority, that they occasionally assemble in large numbers, in +gambols. My informant asserts that he saw once not less than fifty so +engaged; hooting, screaming, and drumming with sticks upon old logs, +which is done in the latter case with equal facility by the four +extremities. They do not appear ever to act on the offensive, and +seldom, if ever really, on the defensive. When about to be captured, +they resist by throwing their arms about their opponent, and attempting +to draw him into contact with their teeth." (Savage, l. c. p. 384.) + +With respect to this last point Dr. Savage is very explicit in another +place: "Biting" is their principal art of defence. I have seen one +man who had been thus severely wounded in the feet. + +"The strong development of the canine teeth in the adult would seem to +indicate a carnivorous propensity; but in no state save that of +domestication do they manifest it. At first they reject flesh, but +easily acquire a fondness for it. The canines are early developed, and +evidently designed to act the important part of weapons of defence. +When in contact with man almost the first effort of the animal is--'to +bite'. + +"They avoid the abodes of men, and build their habitations in trees. +Their construction is more that of 'nests' than 'huts', as they have +been erroneously termed by some naturalists. They generally build not +far above the ground. Branches or twigs are bent, or partly broken, +and crossed, and the whole supported by the body of a limb or a +crotch. Sometimes a nest will be found near the 'end' of a 'strong +leafy branch' twenty or thirty feet from the ground. One I have lately +seen that could not be less than forty feet, and more probably it was +fifty. But this is an unusual height. + +"Their dwelling-place is not permanent, but changed in pursuit of food +and solitude, according to the force of circumstances. We more often +see them in elevated places; but this arises from the fact that the low +grounds, being more favourable for the natives' rice-farms, are the +oftener cleared, and hence are almost always wanting in suitable trees +for their nests.... It is seldom that more than one or two nests are +seen upon the same tree, or in the same neighbourhood: five have been +found, but it was an unusual circumstance."... + +"They are very filthy in their habits.... It is a tradition with the +natives generally here, that they were once members of their own tribe; +that for their depraved habits they were expelled from all human +society, and, that through an obstinate indulgence of their vile +propensities, they have degenerated into their present state and +organization. They are, however, eaten by them, and when cooked with +the oil and pulp of the palm-nut considered a highly palatable morsel. + +"They exhibit a remarkable degree of intelligence in their habits, and, +on the part of the mother, much affection for their young. The second +female described was upon a tree when first discovered, with her mate +and two young ones (a male and a female). Her first impulse was to +descend with great rapidity, and make off into the thicket, with her +mate and female offspring. The young male remaining behind, she soon +returned to the rescue. She ascended and took him in her arms, at +which moment she was shot, the ball passing through the forearm of the +young one, on its way to the heart of the mother.... + +"In a recent case, the mother, when discovered, remained upon the tree +with her offspring, watching intently the movements of the hunter. As +he took aim, she motioned with her hand, precisely in the manner of a +human being, to have him desist and go away. When the wound has not +proved instantly fatal, they have been known to stop the flow of blood +by pressing with the hand upon the part, and when this did not succeed, +to apply leaves and grass.... When shot, they give a sudden screech, +not unlike that of a human being in sudden and acute distress." + +The ordinary voice of the Chimpanzee, however, is affirmed to be hoarse, +guttural, and not very loud, somewhat like "whoo-whoo." (l. c. p. 365). + +The analogy of the Chimpanzee to the Orang, in its nest-building habit +and in the mode of forming its nest, is exceedingly interesting; while, +on the other hand, the activity of this ape, and its tendency to bite, +are particulars in which it rather resembles the Gibbons. In extent of +geographical range, again, the Chimpanzees--which are found from Sierra +Leone to Congo--remind one of the Gibbons, rather than of either of the +other man-like apes; and it seems not unlikely that, as is the case +with the Gibbons, there may be several species spread over the +geographical area of the genus. + +The same excellent observer, from whom I have borrowed the preceding +account of the habits of the adult Chimpanzee, published fifteen years +ago,* an account of the GORILLA, which has, in its most essential +points, been confirmed by subsequent observers, and to which so very +little has really been added, that in justice to Dr. Savage I give it +almost in full. + + [footnote] *Notice of the external characters and habits of + Troglodytes Gorilla. 'Boston Journal of Natural History', + 1847. + +"It should be borne in mind that my account is based upon the statements +of the aborigines of that region (the Gaboon). In this connection, it +may also be proper for me to remark, that having been a missionary +resident for several years, studying, from habitual intercourse, the +African mind and character, I felt myself prepared to discriminate and +decide upon the probability of their statements. Besides, being +familiar with the history and habits of its interesting congener +('Trog. niger', Geoff.), I was able to separate their accounts of the +two animals, which, having the same locality and a similarity of habit, +are confounded in the minds of the mass, especially as but few--such as +traders to the interior and huntsmen--have ever seen the animal in +question. + +FIG. 10.--The Gorilla (after Wolff). + +"The tribe from which our knowledge of the animal is derived, and whose +territory forms its habitat, is the 'Mpongwe', occupying both banks of +the River Gaboon, from its mouth to some fifty or sixty miles +upward.... + +"If the word 'Pongo' be of African origin, it is probably a corruption +of the word 'Mpongwe', the name of the tribe on the banks of the +Gaboon, and hence applied to the region they inhabit. Their local name +for the Chimpanzee is 'Enche-eko', as near as it can be Anglicized, +from which the common term 'Jocko' probably comes. The Mpongwe +appellation for its new congener is 'Enge-ena', prolonging the sound of +the first vowel, and slightly sounding the second. + +"The habitat of the 'Enge-ena' is the interior of lower Guinea, whilst +that of the 'Enche-eko' is nearer the sea-board. + +"Its height is about five feet; it is disproportionately broad across +the shoulders, thickly covered with coarse black hair, which is said to +be similar in its arrangement to that of the 'Enche-eko'; with age it +becomes grey, which fact has given rise to the report that both animals +are seen of different colours. + +"'Head'.--The prominent features of the head are, the great width and +elongation of the face, the depth of the molar region, the branches of +the lower jaw being very deep and extending far backward, and the +comparative smallness of the cranial portion; the eyes are very large, +and said to be like those of the Enche-eko, a bright hazel; nose broad +and flat, slightly elevated towards the root; the muzzle broad, and +prominent lips and chin, with scattered gray hairs; the under lip +highly mobile, and capable of great elongation when the animal is +enraged, then hanging over the chin; skin of the face and ears naked, +and of a dark brown, approaching to black. + +"The most remarkable feature of the head is a high ridge, or crest of +hair, in the course of the sagittal suture, which meets posteriorily +with a transverse ridge of the same, but less prominent, running round +from the back of one ear to the other. The animal has the power of +moving the scalp freely forward and back, and when enraged is said to +contract it strongly over the brow, thus bringing down the hairy ridge +and pointing the hair forward, so as to present an indescribably +ferocious aspect. + +"Neck short, thick, and hairy; chest and shoulders very broad, said to +be fully double the size of the Enche-ekos; arms very long, reaching +some way below the knee--the fore-arm much the shortest; hands very +large, the thumbs much larger than the fingers.... + +FIG. 11.--Gorilla walking (after Wolff). + +"The gait is shuffling; the motion of the body, which is never upright +as in man, but bent forward, is somewhat rolling, or from side to +side. The arms being longer than the Chimpanzee, it does not stoop as +much in walking; like that animal, it makes progression by thrusting +its arms forward, resting the hands on the ground, and then giving the +body a half jumping half swinging motion between them. In this act it +is said not to flex the fingers, as does the Chimpanzee, resting on its +knuckles, but to extend them, making a fulcrum of the hand. When it +assumes the walking posture, to which it is said to be much inclined, it +balances its huge body by flexing its arms upward. + +"They live in bands, but are not so numerous as the Chimpanzees: the +females generally exceed the other sex in number. My informants all +agree in the assertion that but one adult male is seen in a band; that +when the young males grow up, a contest takes place for mastery, and +the strongest, by killing and driving out the others, establishes +himself as the head of the community." + +Dr. Savage repudiates the stories about the Gorillas carrying off women +and vanquishing elephants and then adds: + +"Their dwellings, if they may be so called, are similar to those of the +Chimpanzee, consisting simply of a few sticks and leafy branches, +supported by the crotches and limbs of trees: they afford no shelter, +and are occupied only at night. + +"They are exceedingly ferocious, and always offensive in their habits, +never running from man, as does the Chimpanzee. They are objects of +terror to the natives, and are never encountered by them except on the +defensive. The few that have been captured were killed by elephant +hunters and native traders, as they came suddenly upon them while +passing through the forests. + +"It is said that when the male is first seen he gives a terrific yell, +that resounds far and wide through the forest, something like kh-ah! +kh-ah! prolonged and shrill. His enormous jaws are widely opened at +each expiration, his under lip hangs over the chin, and the hairy ridge +and scalp are contracted upon the brow, presenting an aspect of +indescribable ferocity. + +"The females and young, at the first cry, quickly disappear. He then +approaches the enemy in great fury, pouring out his horrid cries in +quick succession. The hunter awaits his approach with his gun +extended: if his aim is not sure, he permits the animal to grasp the +barrel, and as he carries it to his mouth (which is his habit) he +fires. Should the gun fail to go off, the barrel (that of the ordinary +musket, which is thin) is crushed between his teeth, and the encounter +soon proves fatal to the hunter. + +"In the wild state, their habits are in general like those of the +'Troglodytes niger', building their nests loosely in trees, living on +similar fruits, and changing their place of resort from force of +circumstances." + +Dr. Savage's observations were confirmed and supplemented by those of +Mr. Ford, who communicated an interesting paper on the Gorilla to the +Philadelphian Academy of Sciences, in 1852. With respect to the +geographical distribution of this greatest of all the man-like Apes, +Mr. Ford remarks: + +"This animal inhabits the range of mountains that traverse the interior +of Guinea, from the Cameroon in the north, to Angola in the south, and +about 100 miles inland, and called by the geographers Crystal +Mountains. The limit to which this animal extends, either north or +south, I am unable to define. But that limit is doubtless some +distance north of this river [Gaboon]. I was able to certify myself of +this fact in a late excursion to the head-waters of the Mooney (Danger) +River, which comes into the sea some sixty miles from this place. I was +informed (credibly, I think) that they were numerous among the +mountains in which that river rises, and far north of that. + +"In the south, this species extends to the Congo River, as I am told by +native traders who have visited the coast between the Gaboon and that +river. Beyond that, I am not informed. This animal is only found at a +distance from the coast in most cases, and, according to my best +information, approaches it nowhere so nearly as on the south side of +this river, where they have been found within ten miles of the sea. +This, however, is only of late occurrence. I am informed by some of +the oldest Mpongwe men that formerly he was only found on the sources +of the river, but that at present he may be found within half-a-day's +walk of its mouth. Formerly he inhabited the mountainous ridge where +Bushmen alone inhabited, but now he boldly approaches the Mpongwe +plantations. This is doubtless the reason of the scarcity of +information in years past, as the opportunities for receiving a +knowledge of the animal have not been wanting; traders having for one +hundred years frequented this river, and specimens, such as have been +brought here within a year, could not have been exhibited without +having attracted the attention of the most stupid." + +One specimen Mr. Ford examined weighed 170 1bs., without the thoracic, +or pelvic, viscera, and measured four feet four inches round the +chest. This writer describes so minutely and graphically the onslaught +of the Gorilla--though he does not for a moment pretend to have +witnessed the scene--that I am tempted to give this part of his paper in +full, for comparison with other narratives: + +"He always rises to his feet when making an attack, though he approaches +his antagonist in a stooping posture. + +"Though he never lies in wait, yet, when he hears, sees, or scents a +man, he immediately utters his characteristic cry, prepares for an +attack, and always acts on the offensive. The cry he utters resembles +a grunt more than a growl, and is similar to the cry of the Chimpanzee, +when irritated, but vastly louder. It is said to be audible at a great +distance. His preparation consists in attending the females and young +ones, by whom he is usually accompanied, to a little distance. He, +however, soon returns, with his crest erect and projecting forward, his +nostrils dilated, and his under-lip thrown down; at the same time +uttering his characteristic yell, designed, it would seem, to terrify +his antagonist. Instantly, unless he is disabled by a well directed +shot, he makes an onset, and, striking his antagonist with the palm of +his hands, or seizing him with a grasp from which there is no escape, +he dashes him upon the ground, and lacerates him with his tusks. + +"He is said to seize a musket, and instantly crush the barrel between +his teeth.... This animal's savage nature is very well shown by the +implacable desperation of a young one that was brought here. It was +taken very young, and kept four months, and many means were used to +tame it; but it was incorrigible, so that it bit me an hour before it +died." + +Mr. Ford discredits the house-building and elephant-driving stories, and +says that no well-informed natives believe them. They are tales told +to children. + +I might quote other testimony to a similar effect, but, as it appears to +me, less carefully weighed and sifted, from the letters of MM. Franquet +and Gautier Laboullay, appended to the memoir of M. I. G. St. Hilaire, +which I have already cited. + +Bearing in mind what is known regarding the Orang and the Gibbon, the +statements of Dr. Savage and Mr. Ford do not appear to me to be justly +open to criticism on 'a priori' grounds. The Gibbons, as we have seen, +readily assume the erect posture, but the Gorilla is far better fitted +by its organization for that attitude than are the Gibbons: if the +laryngeal pouches of the Gibbons, as is very likely, are important in +giving volume to a voice which can be heard for half a league, the +Gorilla, which has similar sacs, more largely developed, and whose bulk +is fivefold that of a Gibbon, may well be audible for twice that +distance. If the Orang fights with its hands, the Gibbons and +Chimpanzees with their teeth, the Gorilla may, probably enough, do +either or both; nor is there anything to be said against either +Chimpanzee or Gorilla building a nest, when it is proved that the +Orang-Utan habitually performs that feat. + +With all this evidence, now ten to fifteen years old, before the world +it is not a little surprising that the assertions of a recent +traveller, who, so far as the Gorilla is concerned, really does very +little more than repeat, on his own authority, the statements of Savage +and of Ford, should have met with so much and such bitter opposition. +If subtraction be made of what was known before, the sum and substance +of what M. Du Chaillu has affirmed as a matter of his own observation +respecting the Gorilla, is, that, in advancing to the attack, the great +brute beats his chest with his fists. I confess I see nothing very +improbable, or very much worth disputing about, in this statement. + +With respect to the other man-like Apes of Africa, M. Du Chaillu tells +us absolutely nothing, of his own knowledge, regarding the common +Chimpanzee; but he informs us of a bald-headed species or variety, the +'nschiego mbouve', which builds itself a shelter, and of another rare +kind with a comparatively small face, large facial angle, and peculiar +note, resembling "Kooloo." + +As the Orang shelters itself with a rough coverlet of leaves, and the +common Chimpanzee, according to that eminently trustworthy observer Dr. +Savage, makes a sound like "Whoo-whoo,"--the grounds of the summary +repudiation with which M. Du Chaillu's statements on these matters have +been met are not obvious. + +If I have abstained from quoting M. Du Chaillu's work, then, it is not +because I discern any inherent improbability in his assertions +respecting the man-like Apes; nor from any wish to throw suspicion on +his veracity; but because, in my opinion, so long as his narrative +remains in its present state of unexplained and apparently inexplicable +confusion, it has no claim to original authority respecting any subject +whatsoever. + +It may be truth, but it is not evidence. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature + diff --git a/old/thx1110.zip b/old/thx1110.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d189e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thx1110.zip |