[1] 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.
[2] "Except this that their legges had no calves."--[Ed. 1626.] And in a
marginal note, "These great apes are called Pongo's."
[3] _Purchas' note._--Cape Negro is in 16 degrees south of the line.
[4] 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."
[5] Archives du Museum, tome x.
[6] 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.
[7] "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, &c. 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.
[8] Histoire Naturelle, Suppl. tome 7ème, 1789.
[9] Camper, OEuvres, i. p. 56.
[10] Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap. Tweede Deel. Derde
Druk. 1826.
[11] "Briefe des Herrn v. Wurmb und des H. Baron von Wollzogen. Gotha,
1794."
[12] See Blumenbach, "Abbildungen Naturhistorichen Gegenstände," No. 12,
1810; and Tilesius, "Naturhistoriche Früchte der ersten
Kaiserlich-Russischen Erdumsegelung," p. 115, 1813.
[13] Speaking broadly and without prejudice to the question, whether
there be more than one species of Orang.
[14] 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.
[15] "Man and Monkies," p. 423.
[16] "Wanderings in New South Wales," vol. ii. chap. viii., 1834.
[17] Boston Journal of Natural History, vol. i., 1834.
[18] 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 Müller 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.
[19] 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.
[20] "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.
[21] Mr. Wallace's account of the progression of the Orang almost
exactly corresponds with this.
[22] 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. 16).
[23] On the Orang-Utan, or Mias of Borneo, Annals of Natural History,
1856.
[24] Notice of the external characters and habits of Troglodytes
Gorilla. Boston Journal of Natural History, 1847.