The largest and most remarkable oran-outang ever seen by Europeans, was
discovered by an officer of the ship Mary Anne Sophia, in the year 1824,
at a place called Ramboon, near Touromon, on the west coast of Sumatra.
When the officer alluded to first saw the animal, he assembled his
people, and followed him to a tree in a cultivated spot, on which he
took refuge. His walk was erect and waddling, but not quick, and he was
obliged occasionally to accelerate his motion with his hands; but with a
bough which he carried, he impelled himself forward with great rapidity.
When he reached the trees his strength was shown in a high degree, for
with one spring he gained a very lofty branch, and bounded from it with
the ease of the smaller animals of his kind. Had the circumjacent land
been covered with wood, he would certainly have escaped from his
pursuers, for his mode of travelling by bough or tree was as rapid as
the progress of a very fleet horse: but at Ramboon there are but few
trees left in the midst of cultivated fields, and amongst these alone he
jumped about to avoid being taken. He was first shot on a tree, and
after having received five balls, his exertion was relaxed, owing, no
doubt, to loss of blood; and the ammunition having been by that time
expended, his pursuers were obliged to have recourse to other measures
for his destruction. One of the first balls probably penetrated his
lungs, for immediately after the infliction of the wound, he slung
himself by his feet from a branch with his head downwards, and allowed
the blood to flow from his mouth. On receiving a wound, he always put
his hand over the injured part, and the human-like agony of his
expression had the natural effect of exciting painful feelings in his
assailants. The peasantry seemed as amazed at the sight of him as the
crew of the ship; for they had never seen one before, although living
within two days’ journey from the vast and impenetrable forests on the
island. They cut down the tree on which he was reclining exhausted; but
the moment he found it falling, he exerted his remaining strength, and
gained another, and then a third, until he was finally brought to the
ground, and forced to combat his unrelenting foes, who now gathered very
thickly round, and discharged spears and other missiles against him.
The first spear, made of a very strong supple wood, which would have
resisted the strength of the strongest man, was broken by him like a
carrot; and had he not been in almost a dying state, it was feared that
he would have severed the heads of some of the party with equal ease. He
fell, at length, under innumerable stabs inflicted by the peasantry.
The animal is supposed to have travelled some distance from the place
where he was killed, as his legs were covered with mud up to the knees.
His hands and feet had great analogy to human hands and feet, only that
the thumbs were smaller in proportion, and situated nearer the
wrist-joint. His body was well proportioned; he had a fine broad
expanded chest and a narrow waist; but his legs were rather short, and
his arms very long, though both possessed such sinew and muscle as left
no doubt of their strength. His head was well proportioned with his
body, and the nose prominent; the eyes were large, and the mouth larger
than the mouth in man. His chin was fringed, from the extremity of one
ear to the other, with a shaggy beard, curling luxuriantly on each side,
and forming altogether an ornamental, rather than a frightful appendage
to his visage. When he was first killed, the hair of his coat was smooth
and glossy, and his teeth and whole appearance indicated that he was
young, and in the full possession of his physical powers. He was nearly
eight feet high.
The skin and fragments of this surprising oran-outang were presented to
the Asiatic Society at Calcutta; and on the 5th of January, 1825, Dr.
Abel examined them, and read the observations he had made. The height
already mentioned is according to the estimate of those who saw the
animal alive, but the measurement of the skin went far to determine this
question. The skin, dried and shrivelled as it was, in a straight line
from the top of the shoulder to the point whence the ancle had been
removed, measured five feet ten inches; the perpendicular length of the
neck in the preparation, was three inches and a half; the length of the
face, from the forehead to the chin, nine inches; and of the skin
attached to the foot, from the line of its separation from the body to
the heel, eight inches. The measurements were made by Dr. Abel himself.
Thus we have one foot eight inches and a half to be added to the five
feet ten inches, in order to approximate his real stature, which would
make seven feet six inches and a half; and allowing the six inches and a
half for the shortening that would result from the folding of the skin
over the shoulders, the height would then be full seven feet. This is
the greatest ascertained height of any tail-less monkey mentioned in the
several notices which Dr. Abel collected from different writers on
man-like apes.
The skin itself was of a dark leaden colour; the hair a brownish red,
shaggy, and long over the shoulders and flanks.
Dr. Abel remarked, that of the small animals more particularly known in
Europe, under the designation of oran-outang, one was an inhabitant of
Africa, and the other of the east. Several living specimens of both have
been seen in Europe, but all were of small stature, and very young,
never exceeding three feet in height, or as many years of age. These
animals were long considered as varieties of the same species, although
in point of fact they are very distinctly separated by external
character and anatomical distinctions. The African animal being always
black with large ears, the eastern specimens as invariably having
reddish brown hair, and very small ears; the former also are unprovided
with the sacs communicating with the windpipe, which are always found in
the latter.[220]
Different naturalists have deemed the oran-outang to be the connecting
link between the brute and the human being.
[220] Calcutta Government Gazette, Jan. 13, 1825.
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