orang-outang, various opinions may be formed according to the various
circumstances under which the animals are observed. The following
has been quoted in evidence of the superiority of the chimpanzee in
this respect:—“About fifty years ago, a young chimpanzee and an
orang-outang of about the same age were exhibited together at the
Egyptian Hall. The chimpanzee, though in a declining state of health,
and rendered peevish and irritable by bodily suffering, exhibited
much superior marks of intelligence to his companion; he was active,
quick, and observant of everything that passed around him; no new
visitor entered the apartment in which he was kept, and no one left it,
without attracting his attention. The orang-outang, on the contrary,
exhibited a melancholy and a disregard of passing occurrences almost
amounting to apathy; and though in the enjoyment of better health, was
evidently much inferior to his companion in quickness and observation.
On one occasion, when the animals were dining on potatoes and boiled
chicken, and surrounded as usual with a large party of visitors, the
orang-outang allowed her plate to be taken without exhibiting the least
apparent concern. Not so, however, the chimpanzee. We took advantage
of an opportunity when his head was turned (to observe a person coming
in) to secrete his plate also. For a few seconds he looked round to
see what had become of it, but, not finding it, began to pout and fret
exactly like a spoiled child, and perceiving a young lady, who happened
to be standing near him, laughing, perhaps suspecting her to be the
delinquent, he flew at her in the greatest rage, and would probably
have bitten her had she not got beyond his reach. Upon having his plate
restored, he took care to prevent the repetition of the joke by holding
it firmly with one hand, while he fed himself with the other.”
This story can hardly be regarded as deciding the question in favour
of the chimpanzee. Many animals, admittedly far inferior to the lowest
order of monkeys in intelligence, show watchfulness over their food,
and as much ill-temper when deprived of it, and as much anxiety to
recover it, as this chimpanzee did. A hundred cases in point might
readily be cited.[36]
Perhaps the soundest opinion respecting the relative position of
the gorilla, chimpanzee, and orang-outang with reference to man, is
that which places the gorilla nearest to the lower tribes of man now
inhabiting Africa, the chimpanzee approximating, but not so closely,
to higher African tribes, and the orang-outang approximating, but
still less closely, to Asiatic tribes. It appears to me that, whatever
weight naturalists may attach to those details in which the gorilla
and the chimpanzee are more removed from man than the orang, no one
who takes a _general_ view of these three races of anthropoid apes can
hesitate to regard the gorilla as that which, on the whole, approaches
nearest to man; but it is to a much lower race of man that the gorilla
approximates, so that the chimpanzee and the orang-outang may fairly be
regarded as higher in the scale of animal life.
If we consider young specimens of the three animals, which is, on
the whole, the safest way of forming an opinion, we are unmistakably
led, in my judgment, to such a conclusion. I have seen three or four
young chimpanzees, two young orangs, and the young gorilla lately
exhibited at the Aquarium (where he could be directly compared with
the chimpanzee), and I cannot hesitate to pronounce Pongo altogether
the most human of the three. A young chimpanzee reminds one rather of
an old man than of a child, and the same may be said of young orangs;
but the young gorilla unmistakably reminds one of the young negro.
Repeatedly, while watching Pongo, I was reminded of the looks and
behaviour of young negroes whom I had seen in America, though not able
in every case to fix definitely on the feature of resemblance which
recalled the negro to my mind. (The reader is, doubtless, familiar with
half-remembered traits such as those I refer to—traits, for instance,
such as assure you that a person belongs to some county or district,
though you may be unable to say what feature, expression, or gesture
suggests the idea.) One circumstance may be specially noted, not only
as frequently recurring, but as illustrating the traits on which the
resemblance of the gorilla (when young, at any rate) to the negro
depends. A negro turns his eyes where a Caucasian would turn his head.
The peculiarity is probably a relic of savage life; for the savage,
whether engaged in war or in the chase, avoids, as far as possible,
every movement of body or limb. Pongo looked in this way. When he thus
cast his black eyes sideways at an object I found myself reminded
irresistibly of the ways of the watchful negro waiters at an American
hotel. Certainly there is little in the movements of the chimpanzee to
remind one of any kind of human child. He is impish; but not the most
impish child of any race or tribe ever had ways, I should suppose,
resembling his.
The four anthropoid apes, full grown and in their native wilds, differ
greatly from each other in character. It may be well to consider their
various traits, endeavouring to ascertain how far diversities existing
among them may be traced to the conditions under which the four orders
subsist.
The gorilla occupies a well-wooded country extending along the coast
of Africa from the Gulf of Guinea southwards across the equator. When
full grown he is equal to a man in height, but much more powerfully
built. “Of specimens shot by Du Chaillu,” says Rymer Jones, “the
largest male seems to have been at least six feet two in height;
so that, making allowance for the shortness of the lower limbs, the
dimensions of a full-grown male may be said to equal those of a man of
eight or nine feet high, and it is only in their length that the lower
limbs are disproportionate to the gigantic trunk. In the thickness and
solidity of their bones, and in the strength of their muscles, these
limbs are quite in keeping with the rest of the body. When upright,
the gorilla’s arms reach to his knees; the hind hands are wide, and of
amazing size and power; the great toe or thumb measures six inches in
circumference; the palms and soles, and the naked part of the face, are
of an intense black colour, as is also the breast. The other parts are
thickly clothed with hair of an iron grey, except the head, on which it
is reddish brown, and the arms, where it is long and nearly black. The
female is wholly tinged with red.”
Du Chaillu gives the following account of the aspect of the gorilla
in his native woods:—“Suddenly, as we were yet creeping along in a
silence which made even a heavy breath seem loud and distinct, the
woods were at once filled with a tremendous barking roar; then the
underbrush swayed rapidly just ahead, and presently stood before us an
immense gorilla. He had gone through the jungle on all-fours; but when
he saw our party he erected himself and looked us boldly in the face.
He stood about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight I think I shall
never forget. Nearly six feet high (he proved four inches shorter),
with immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with fiercely
glaring, large, deep-grey eyes, and a hellish expression of face, which
seemed to me some night-mare vision; thus stood before us the king of
the African forest. He was not afraid of us; he stood there and beat
his breasts with his large fists till it resounded like an immense bass
drum (which is their mode of bidding defiance), meantime giving vent to
roar after roar.”
The gorilla is a fruit-eater, but as fierce as the most carnivorous
animals. He is said to show an enraged enmity against men, probably
because he has found them not only hostile to himself, but successful
in securing the fruits which the gorilla loves, for he shows a similar
hatred to the elephant, which also seeks these fruits. We are told
that when the gorilla “sees the elephant busy with his trunk among
the twigs, he instantly regards this as an infraction of the laws
of property, and, dropping silently down to the bough, he suddenly
brings his club smartly down on the sensitive finger of the elephant’s
proboscis, and drives off the alarmed animal trumpeting shrilly with
rage and pain.” His enmity to man is more terribly manifested. “The
young athletic negroes in their ivory-haunts,” says Gosse, “well know
the prowess of the gorilla. He does not, like the lion, sullenly
retreat on seeing them, but swings himself rapidly down to the lower
branches, courting the conflict, and clutches the nearest of his
enemies. The hideous aspect of his visage (his green eyes flashing
with rage) is heightened by the thick and prominent brows being drawn
spasmodically up and down, with the hair erect, causing a horrible
and fiendish scowl. Weapons are torn from their possessor’s grasp,
gun-barrels bent and crushed in by the powerful hands and vice-like
teeth of the enraged brute. More horrid still, however, is the sudden
and unexpected fate which is often inflicted by him. Two negroes will
be walking through one of the woodland paths unsuspicious of evil, when
in an instant one misses his companion, or turns to see him drawn up
in the air with a convulsed choking cry, and in a few minutes dropped
to the ground, a strangled corpse. The terrified survivor gazes up,
and meets the grin and glare of the fiendish giant, who, watching his
opportunity, had suddenly put down his immense hind hand, caught the
wretch by the neck with resistless power, and dropped him only when he
ceased to struggle.”
The chimpanzee inhabits the region from Sierra Leone to the southern
confines of Angola, possibly as far as Cape Negro, so that his domain
includes within it that of the gorilla. He attains almost the same
height as the gorilla when full grown, but is far less powerfully
built. In fact, in general proportions the chimpanzee approaches man
more nearly than does any other animal. His body is covered with long
black coarse hair, thickest on the head, shoulders, and back, and
rather thin on the breast and belly. The face is dark brown and naked,
as are the ears, except that long black whiskers adorn the animal’s
cheeks. The hair on the forearms is directed towards the elbows,
as is the case with all the anthropoid apes, and with man himself.
This hair forms, where it meets the hair from the upper arm, a small
ruff about the elbow joint. The chimpanzees live in society in the
woods, constructing huts from the branches and foliage of trees to
protect themselves against the sun and heavy rains. It is said by some
travellers that the chimpanzee walks upright in its native woods, but
this is doubtful; though certainly the formation of the toes better
fits them to stand upright than either the gorilla or the orang. They
arm themselves with clubs, and unite to defend themselves against the
attacks of wild beasts, “compelling,” it is said, “even the elephant
himself to abandon the districts in which they reside.” We learn that
“it is dangerous for men to enter their forests, unless in companies
and well armed; women in particular are often said to be carried away
by these animals, and one negress is reported to have lived among them
for the space of three years, during which time they treated her with
uniform kindness, but always prevented any attempt on her part to
escape. When the negroes leave a fire in the woods, it is said that
the chimpanzees will gather round and warm themselves at the blaze,
but they have not sufficient intelligence to keep it alive by fresh
supplies of fuel.”
The orang-outang inhabits Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and other islands
of the Indian coast. He attains a greater height than the gorilla,
but, though very powerful and active, would probably not be a match
for the gorilla in a single combat. His arms are by comparison as
well as actually much longer. Whereas the gorilla’s reach only to the
knees, the arms of the orang-outang almost reach the ground when the
animal is standing upright. The orang does not often assume an upright
attitude, however. “It seldom attempts to walk on the hind feet alone,
and when it does the hands are invariably employed for the purpose of
steadying its tottering equilibrium, touching the ground lightly on
each side as it proceeds, and by this means recovering the lost balance
of the body.” The gorilla uses his hands differently. He can scarcely
be said to walk on all-fours, because he does not place the inside of
the hand on the ground, but walks on the knuckles, evidently trying
to keep the fore part of the body as high as possible. “The muzzle is
somewhat long, the mouth ill-shaped, the lips thin and protuberant; the
ears are very small, the chin scarcely recognizable, and the nose only
to be recognized by the nostrils. The face, ears, and inside of the
hands of the orang are naked and of a brick-red colour; the fore parts
are also but thinly covered with hair; but the head, shoulders, back,
and extremities are thickly clothed with long hair of dark wine-red
colour, directed forwards on the crown of the head and upwards towards
the elbows on the forearms.”
The orang-outang changes remarkably in character and appearance as he
approaches full growth. “Though exhibiting in early youth a rotundity
of the cranium and a height of forehead altogether peculiar, and
accompanied at the same time with a gentleness of disposition and
a gravity of manners which contrast strongly with the petulant and
irascible temper of the lower orders of quadrumanous mammals, the
orang-outang in its adult state is even remarkable for the flatness
of its retiring forehead, the great development of the superorbital
and occipital crests, the prominence of its jaws, the remarkable
size of its canine teeth, and the whole form of the skull, which
from the globular shape of the human head, as in the young specimen,
assumes all the forms and characters belonging to that of a large
carnivorous animal. The extraordinary contrasts thus presented in the
form of the skull at different epochs of the same animal’s life were
long considered as the characters of distinct species; nor was it
till intermediate forms were obtained, exhibiting in some degree the
peculiarities of both extremes, that they were finally recognized as
distinguishing different periods of growth only.”
Unlike the gorilla, which attacks man with peculiar malignity, and the
chimpanzee, which when in large troops assails those who approach its
retreats, the orang, even in its adult state, seems not to be dangerous
unless attacked. Even then he does not always show great ferocity.
The two following anecdotes illustrate well its character. The first
is from the pen of Dr. Abel Clarke (fifth volume of the “Asiatic
Researches”); the other is from Wallace’s interesting work, “The Malay
Archipelago.” An orang-outang fully seven feet high was discovered
by the company of a merchant ship, at a place called Ramboon, on the
north-west coast of Sumatra, on a spot where there were few trees
and little cultivated ground. “It was evident that he had come from
a distance, for his legs were covered with mud up to the knees, and
the natives were unacquainted with him. On the approach of the boat’s
crew he came down from the tree in which he was discovered, and made
for a clump at some distance; exhibiting, as he moved, the appearance
of a tall man-like figure, covered with shining brown hair, walking
erect, with a waddling gait, but sometimes accelerating his motion
with his hands, and occasionally impelling himself forward with the
bough of a tree. His motion on the ground was evidently not his natural
mode of progression, for, even when assisted by his hands and the
bough, it was slow and vacillating; it was necessary to see him among
the trees to estimate his strength and agility. On being driven to a
small clump, he gained by one spring a very lofty branch and bounded
from one branch to another with the swiftness of a common monkey, his
progress being as rapid as that of a swift horse. After receiving
five balls his exertions relaxed, and, reclining exhausted against a
branch, he vomited a quantity of blood. The ammunition of the hunters
being by this time exhausted, they were obliged to fell the tree
in order to obtain him; but what was their surprise to see him, as
the tree was falling, effect his retreat to another, with seemingly
undiminished vigour! In fact, they were obliged to cut down all the
trees before they could force him to combat his enemies on the ground,
and when finally overpowered by numbers, and nearly in a dying state,
he seized a spear made of supple wood, which would have withstood the
strength of the stoutest man, and broke it like a reed. It was stated,
by those who aided in his death, that the human-like expression of
his countenance and his piteous manner of placing his hands over his
wounds, distressed their feelings so as almost to make them question
the nature of the act they were committing. He was seven feet high,
with a broad expanded chest and narrow waist. His chin was fringed
with a beard that curled neatly on each side, and formed an ornamental
rather than a frightful appendage to his visage. His arms were long
even in proportion to his height, but his legs were much shorter. Upon
the whole, he was a wonderful beast to behold, and there was more about
him to excite amazement than fear. His hair was smooth and glossy, and
his whole appearance showed him to be in the full vigour of his youth
and strength.” On the whole, the narrative seems to suggest a remark
similar to one applied by Washington Irving to the followers of Ojeda
and their treatment of the (so-called) Indians of South America, “we
confess we feel a momentary doubt whether the arbitrary appellation of
‘brute’ is always applied to the right party.”
The other story also presents man as at least as brutal as the orang
concerned in the event. “A few miles down the river,” says Wallace,
“there is a Dyak house, and the inhabitants saw a large orang feeding
on the young shoots of a palm by the river-side. On being alarmed he
retreated towards the jungle which was close by, and a number of the
men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept him. The man
who was in front tried to run his spear through the animal’s body; but
the orang seized it in his hands, and in an instant got hold of the
man’s arm, which he seized in his mouth, making his teeth meet in
the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated in a dreadful
manner. Had not the others been close behind, the man would have been
more seriously injured, if not killed, as he was quite powerless; but
they soon destroyed the creature with their spears and choppers. The
man remained ill for a long time, and never fully recovered the use of
his arm.”
The term gibbon includes several varieties of tail-less, long-armed,
catarhine apes. The largest variety, called the siamang, need alone be
described here.
The siamang inhabits Sumatra. It presents several points of resemblance
to the orang-outang, but is also in several respects strongly
distinguished from that animal. The arms are longer even than the
orang’s, and the peculiar use which the orang makes of his long arms
is more strikingly shown in the progression of the long-armed siamang,
for the body inclining slightly forward, when the animal is on level
ground the long arms are used somewhat like crutches, and they advance
by jerks resembling the hobbling of a lame man whom fear compels
to make an extraordinary effort. The skull is small, and much more
depressed than that of the orang or chimpanzee. The face is naked and
black, straggling red hairs marking the eyebrows. The eyes are deeply
sunk, a peculiarity which, by the way, seems characteristic of arboreal
creatures generally;[37] the nose broad and flat, with wide-open
nostrils; the cheeks sunk under high cheekbones; the chin almost
rudimentary. “The hair over the whole body is thick, long, and of a
glossy black colour, much closer on the shoulders, back, and limbs than
on the belly, which, particularly in the females, is nearly naked. The
ears are entirely concealed by the hair of the head; they are naked,
and, like all the other naked parts, of a deep black colour. Beneath
the chin there is a large, bare sac, of a lax and oily appearance,
which is distended with air when the animal cries, and in that state
resembles an enormous goitre. It is similar to that possessed by
the orang-outang, and undoubtedly assists in swelling the volume of
the voice, and producing those astounding cries which, according to
Duvancelle’s account, may be heard at the distance of several miles.”
This, however, may be doubted, for M. Duvancelle himself remarks of the
wouwou, that, “though deprived of the guttural sac so remarkable in the
siamang, its cry is very nearly the same; so that it would appear that
this organ does not produce the effect of increasing the sound usually
attributed to it, or else that it must be replaced in the wouwou by
some analogous formation.”
The habits of the siamang are interesting, especially in their bearing
on the relationship between the various orders of anthropoid apes
and man; for, though the gibbon is unquestionably the lowest of the
four orders of the anthropoid apes in intelligence, it possesses
some characteristics which bring it nearer to man (so far as they
are concerned) than any of its congeners. The chief authorities
respecting the ways of the siamang are the French naturalists Diard and
Duvancelle, and the late Sir Stamford Raffles.
The siamangs generally assemble in large troops, “conducted, it is
said, by a chief, whom the Malays believe to be invulnerable, probably
because he is more agile, powerful, and difficult to capture than the
rest.” “Thus united,” proceeds M. Duvancelle (in a letter addressed
to Cuvier), “the siamangs salute the rising and the setting sun with
the most terrific cries” (like sun-worshippers), “which may be heard
at the distance of many miles, and which, when near, stun when they
do not frighten. This is the morning call of the mountain Malays; but
to the inhabitants of the town, who are unaccustomed to it, it is an
unsupportable annoyance. By way of compensation, the siamangs keep
a profound silence during the day, unless when interrupted in their
repose or their sleep. They are slow and heavy in their gait, wanting
confidence when they climb and agility when they leap, so that they may
be easily caught when they can be surprised. But nature, in depriving
them of the means of readily escaping danger, has endowed them with a
vigilance which rarely fails them; and if they hear a noise which is
unusual to them, even at the distance of a mile, fright seizes them and
they immediately take flight. When surprised on the ground, however,
they may be captured without resistance, either overwhelmed with fear
or conscious of their weakness and the impossibility of escaping. At
first, indeed, they endeavour to avoid their pursuers by flight, and
it is then that their want of skill in this exercise becomes most
apparent.”