GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, HABITS IN A STATE OF NATURE, AND NATIVE
NAMES OF ANTHROPOIDS.
The gorilla inhabits the forests of West Africa, between lat. 2° N.
and 5° S., and long. 6° and 16° E. They are most widely diffused in
the northern part of this territory, on the rivers Ogōwē, Gaboon, and
Danger. Ford asserts that these apes are chiefly found in the chain
of mountains which extends for about a hundred miles from the coast
of Guinea, between the Camaroon and Angola, and which is known as
the Serra do Cristal. They have also been found at the source of the
Danger (Muni, Mooney). In Ford’s time, about 1851, he saw them half a
day’s journey from the mouth of that river. In the years 1851 and 1852
gorillas were seen in large numbers on the sea-coast, probably driven
thither from the interior by a scarcity of food. At that time four
or five specimens were obtained in the course of a few months. After
this they again completely disappeared from the neighbourhood of the
coast, so that an American merchant captain offered 6000 dollars for
a live specimen without being able to obtain it. According to H. von
Koppenfels, the gorilla inhabits the district which lies between the
mouth of the Muni and that of the Congo.
According to Pechuël-Lösche, the gorilla is rare on the Loango coast.
In this district it inhabits the mountainous forests or the strip
of country in their immediate vicinity. Some years ago these apes
were found on the Luemme and Kuilu, even down to the mouths of these
rivers, and also in the ravines of the plateau of Buala; but they now
only come to the coast at Banya, where the same authority believes
that he once heard gorillas. Neither Pechuël-Lösche, Falkenstein,
nor Güssfeldt have ever seen the species in its wild state.[106] The
specimen brought to Berlin by these travellers in 1876 was obtained by
Falkenstein in October, 1875, at Ponta-Negra on the Loango coast, where
it was presented to him by the Portuguese trader Laurentino Antonio dos
Santos. This animal, which was then extremely young, had been brought
from the Kuilu district by a negro, who had shot its mother.[107]
In earlier accounts given by Owen, the district most frequented by
gorillas was in the region of the Gaboon, which presents a pleasant
variety of hill and dale. Here the high ground is clothed with fine,
tall trees, while the valleys are rich in grass, with a scattered
growth of underwood. There are a number of trees and shrubs, bearing
fruits which the natives find inedible, but which are greedily
devoured by gorillas. They show a special preference for the following
fruits:--First, those of the oil palm (_Elaeis guineenis_), of which
they also devour the developed, folded leaves, called the palm-cabbage;
second, the grey plum tree (_Parinarium excelsum_), which bears a mealy
and insipid stone-fruit; third, the melon tree (_Carica Papaya_);
fourth, the pisang (_Musa paradisiaca_, _Musa sapientum_); fifth, two
sorts of scitamines (_Amomum granum paradisi s. Afzelii_, _Amomum
malaguetta_), the last of which, according to Lindley, produces the
malaguetta pepper; sixth, _Amomum grandiflorum_; seventh, a tree
bearing a walnut-like fruit, of which the gorilla cracks the shell
with a stone (this is probably one of the _Sterculiaceæ_, like the
Kola-nut); eighth, another tree with which we are not yet botanically
acquainted, bearing a cherry-like fruit. Du Chaillu asserts that these
animals are also very fond of sugar-cane and the wild pine-apple.
Although they live in places far from human habitations, yet they
rob the cane-plantations and the rice-fields of the negroes in the
harvest-time, and this is a fact confirmed by Koppenfels. Savage
reports that gorillas also devour the bodies of animals killed in
hunting, and even human bodies, and this does not sound improbable.
Like most species of apes, the gorilla preys upon the smaller mammals,
upon birds and their eggs, and upon reptiles. The gorillas which have
been kept in confinement at Berlin have been quite omnivorous, and have
displayed a special taste for animal food.
In the little village of Ntondo, near the Kuilu, Güssfeldt saw a
fetish called Bunsi, constructed of the skulls of animals, and quite
peculiar to Bakunyaland. It consisted of a pile of the skulls of
animals which had been slain in hunting, and which were brought as an
offering to the fetish by the hunter in order that his good luck might
be maintained. The heap consisted for the most part of the skulls of
antelopes, buffaloes, and wild boars, but there were also many skulls
of gorillas. Among these Güssfeldt saw two fine specimens with high
bony crests. When he inquired where gorillas were found and killed, the
natives of Ntondo pointed to a neighbouring forest.[108]
Güssfeldt describes the character of the forest of Mayombe, where
gorillas are also found, somewhat as follows:--This forest does not
correspond to our idea of a primeval tropical forest, and would perhaps
perplex a South American traveller, since it is more like the forests
of mountainous districts in Germany. The luxuriant growth of lianas is
characteristic of a tropical primeval forest: they form a second roof
of leaves above the green masses of the closely set trees. But in this
case the parasitic vegetation is scanty, although not wholly absent,
as the kautschukranke (_Landolphia florida_) shows, which was at one
time very abundant, but is now nearly extinct. Its growth no longer
obstructs the view of the tall and slender trees, somewhat resembling
beeches. The underwood of our German forests is here chiefly supplied
by the large linear leaves of the scitamines, of which the most common
variety is termed matombe by the natives. Ferns, or rather tree-ferns,
are not wanting, and the ground is covered with dead leaves. The trees
of this forest have been untouched by the axe, except in places cleared
for the construction of a new village. Where a tree falls there it
lies, encumbering, as it may for years, the narrow path which leads
through the thicket. An eternal twilight always prevails here, and
on cloudy days it might be supposed that the sun was eclipsed. The
atmosphere is close and damp, like that of a hothouse, and its weight
is most depressing to mind and body. The dense stillness is rarely
broken by the wailing cry of a bird, and no wild creature can be seen.
Those who wander in these forests are always going up or down hill,
since there is no level ground, and by paths scarcely wide enough for a
white man, which are covered with smooth and slippery roots, while the
feet and clothes are constantly caught by boughs and lianas, which also
sting the face, so that the traveller longs for free, unimpeded motion,
for light and air, and rejoices to see the cleared space on which the
village of Bayoma stands, surrounded by palms and bananas.[109] In
the work I have quoted on the Loango Expedition, a fine water-colour
drawing, by Pechuël-Lösche, of a forest frequented by gorillas is
reproduced, and I subjoin a copy of this interesting illustration (Fig.
62).
[Illustration: Fig. 62.--The home of the gorilla.]
The gorilla lives in a society consisting of male and female and their
young of varying ages, and the family group inhabits the recesses of
the forest.[110] According to von Koppenfels, they frequent the same
sleeping-place not more than three or four times consecutively, and
usually spend the night wherever they happen to be when night comes
on. Koppenfels differs from other narrators in the assertion that the
gorilla constructs a bed for his night lair upon the trees. He chooses
for this purpose a full-grown tree, not more than 0·30 m. in thickness,
breaks and bends the branches together at a height of from five to six
metres from the ground, and covers them with the twigs he has torn off,
or with the leaf-moss, which grows scantily in this part of Africa. The
male animal spends the night crouching at the foot of the tree, against
which he places his back, and thus protects the female and their young,
which are in the nest above, from the nocturnal attacks of leopards,
which are always ready to devour all species of apes.
In the daytime the gorillas roam through the tracts of forest which
surround their temporary sleeping-places, in order to seek for food.
In walking they place the backs of their closed fingers on the ground,
or more rarely support themselves on the flat palm, while the flat
soles of the feet are also in contact with the ground. The toes are
generally extended, and a little separated from each other, but
occasionally they are doubled under. Their gait, as Huxley justly
observes, is tottering; the movement of the body, which is never in
an upright position as in man, but bent forward, rolls to some extent
from one side to another. As their arms are longer than those of
the chimpanzee, they do not reach out so much; but the gorilla also
throws his arms forward, sets his hands upon the ground, then gives a
half-swinging, half-springing motion to his body. When assuming the
position for walking, the body is much sloped, and its great bulk is so
balanced as to bend the arms upwards. In spite of his apparently clumsy
and unwieldy form, the gorilla, like the bear, displays great bodily
dexterity. He is a very skilful climber, and, as Koppenfels asserts,
when ranging from tree to tree, he will go to their very tops. He first
tries whether the branches will bear his weight, and if one branch is
not strong enough, he makes use of three or four at once. He will also
run along the branches on all fours, stepping warily. Koppenfels saw
a full-grown animal, as danger approached, spring down from a tree
which was thirty or forty feet high, and then hastily crash through the
brushwood. All Huxley’s informants concur in the assertion that there
is only one adult male attached to each group. As soon as the young
male reaches maturity, a conflict for the mastery takes place, and,
after his rival is killed or driven away, the stronger animal becomes
the head of the community.
I have already spoken of the diet of the gorilla. Koppenfels once
observed a male and female with two young ones when they were feeding.
The head of the family remained at his ease, while his wife and
children plucked fruits for him from a small tree which stood by, and
if they were not sufficiently nimble, or if they took too large a share
for themselves, the old gorilla growled furiously and inflicted a box
on the ear.
The gorilla is regarded as a dreadful and very dangerous animal by the
negroes who inhabit the same country, and who themselves are often
deficient in spirit, while their tales of exaggerated horror serve to
increase their scanty fame as hunters. And what even the luxuriant
fancy of negroes could not paint as sufficiently terrible has been
exaggerated by Du Chaillu for the benefit of his readers. We will not
here repeat these bloodthirsty tales, of which Brehm justly says that
they seem to have been devised by an indifferent romance-writer, who
has given his pen free play.[111] In the letters to Bastian, which are
in my hands, Koppenfels has endeavoured to modify the accounts of the
alleged ferocity of the gorilla. This appears in the fragment of poetry
given by that esteemed traveller in one of his letters.
The same author writes in another place: “As long as the gorilla is
unmolested he does not attack men--and indeed, rather avoids the
encounter.” These apes generally utter deep guttural sounds, sometimes
protracted like _kh-eh, kh-eh_, sometimes roaring or growling. When the
animal is scared by man, he generally takes to flight screaming, and
he only assumes the defensive if wounded or driven into a corner. At
such times his size, strength, and dexterity makes him a by no means
despicable enemy. He sends forth a kind of howl or furious yelp, stands
up on his hind legs like an enraged bear, advances with clumsy gait in
this position and attacks his enemy. At the same time the hair on his
head and the nape of the neck stands erect, his teeth are displayed,
and his eyes flash with savage fury. He beats his massive breast with
his fists, or fights the air with them. Koppenfels adds that if no
further provocation is given, and his opponent gradually retreats
before the animal’s rage has reached its highest point, he does not
return to the attack. In other cases he parries the blows directed
against him with the skill of a practised fighter; as is also done by
the bear, he grasps his opponent by the arm and crunches it, or else
throws the man down and rends him with his terrible canine teeth.
The native hunter stalks the gorilla and kills him with his firearm.
Savage states that the hunter awaits the approach of his prey with
levelled gun, and if he cannot take a sure aim he allows the animal to
seize the barrel of the gun, and fires when, as is commonly the case,
he tries to carry it to his mouth. If the weapon does not go off, the
barrel, which is not strongly made, is crushed between his teeth. When
hunters of the Ogōwē are attacked by a gorilla, they will sometimes
make a last attempt to defend themselves from the animal’s fury with
the axe used for felling trees. Buchholz told me that he had seen the
skin of a male gorilla which was injured in the region of the arms,
probably in this way. But such a duel generally ends in the death of
the hunter.
Pechuël-Lösche talked with two Loango hunters who had killed gorillas.
They stated that they had not gone in search of the dreaded animals,
but that they chanced to encounter them in the forest. Only if they
met a solitary animal did they venture to creep close to it and shoot
it, and then they escaped as quickly as possible in order to be safe
from the fury of any of its companions which might be lingering near.
After several hours they would return in a larger company to carry off
their prey. In Loango the flesh of these animals was not eaten; but,
according to Ford and Savage, it was cooked by the negroes, in the
Gaboon territory, and constituted one of their favourite dainties.
Up to this time Europeans have been rarely successful in killing
gorillas. Du Chaillu asserts that he has been one of the luckiest, but
this assertion has been disputed by others. Fruitless attempts were
made by Winwood Reade, de Compiègne, Buchholz, Lenz, and de Brazza. In
the letters quoted above from Koppenfels to Bastian, he mentions that
he had already, up to March, 1874, four gorillas. In the number of the
_Gartenlaube_ shot which we have mentioned above, he describes some
of his hunting adventures, and goes into details scarcely adapted for
the readers of such a publication. On December 24, 1874, Koppenfels,
accompanied by a young Galloa, was on the shores of Lake Eliva,
observing a gorilla family, consisting of the parents and two young
ones. The female climbed up an iba, or wild mango tree, and shook down
its fruits. The male went to the water’s edge to drink, and was then
shot by Koppenfels, while the female and her young swiftly escaped.
Another time this traveller was in the neighbourhood of Busu, in the
Bakalayan country, which is on the Eliva Sanka, and is bounded on the
south-east by the mountains of Aschangolo and by extensive primeval
forests. It was here that he observed the troop of chimpanzees and
gorillas of which we have already spoken, feeding on the kola nuts,
of which they are very fond. He shot a large and a small specimen of
the chimpanzee; and again in the Aschangolo mountains he shot a male
gorilla, 1090 mm. in height. The bullet pierced the animal’s heart, and
it sprang into the air with outstretched arms, and then crashed down
upon its face. It dragged down in its fall a liana of great strength
with all its dry and green branches.
Adult male gorillas attain to a height varying between 1500 to 2000
mm., and very rarely exceed that height. The height of the females
is about 1500 mm. An ape of this species, examined by Ford, weighed
170 lb. without the viscera. The gorilla shot by Koppenfels in the
Aschangolo mountains was more than 400 lbs. in weight. By the people
of Mpongwe, Orungu, Kamma, Galloa, and Bakalay the gorilla is called
Njina, Njeïna, or Indjina, and by the people of Fan it is called
Nguyala. On the Loango coast it is called N’Pungu or M’Pungu.
As I have already remarked, the chimpanzee occupies a much wider area
than the gorilla. In West Africa it is found in the latitude of the
Portuguese territory, which ranges from Cachêu in the north down to the
Coanza in the south. The species is known to exist in certain districts
of north and south Central Africa, and its presence is surmised in East
Africa, to the south of Abyssinia, in the Djuba territory, and, as
the missionary A. Nachtigall asserts, even in the remote district of
Sofalla in the south-east of Africa, but I cannot pledge myself to the
truth of this fact.
The chimpanzee is also a denizen of forests. They subsist on wild
fruits of various kinds, but they will also visit forsaken plantations,
and even those which are still under cultivation, and in some cases it
seems that they do not reject animal food. Pechuël-Lösche says that
on the Loango coast they frequent the mountains and their vicinity.
They are found in the district of Luemme as far as the lagoon of
Tschissambo, and in those of Kuilu and Banya, as far as the coast.
The chimpanzee either lives in separate families or in small groups of
families. In many districts, as, for example, in the forest regions of
Central Africa, its habits are even more arboreal than those of the
gorilla. Elsewhere, as, for instance, on the south-west coast, it seems
to live more upon the ground. The bam-chimpanzee of Niam-Niam inhabits
the galleries, as they were called by Piaggia and Schweinfurth; that
is, the forest trees growing one above the other in stages, of which
the growth is so dense that it is difficult to get at them. Here
the pisang plantain rises from the soil. The powerful stems, thickly
overgrown with wild pepper, bear branches from which hang long streams
of bearded moss, and also a parasitic growth of that remarkable fern
to which Schweinfurth gave the name of elephant’s ear. The large
tun-shaped structures of the tree-termites are found on the higher
branches. Other stems, rotten and decayed, serve as supports for the
colossal streamers of _Mucuna urens_, and form bowers overhung with
impenetrable festoons, which are as large as houses, in which perpetual
darkness reigns.[112]
When the chimpanzee goes on all fours, he generally supports himself on
the backs of his closed fingers rather than on the palm of the hand,
and he goes sometimes on the soles of his feet, sometimes on the closed
toes. His gait also is weak and vacillating, and he can stand upright
on his feet for a still shorter time than the gorilla. At the same time
he seeks support for his hands, or clasps them above his head, which is
a little thrown back, in order to maintain his balance.
These animals send forth loud cries, which echo plaintively through
the great tropical forests. Pechuël-Lösche says that the horrible
wails, the furious shrieks and howls, which may be heard morning and
evening, and often in the night, make these creatures truly hateful to
travellers. “Since they are really accomplished in the art of bringing
forth these unpleasant sounds, which may be heard at a great distance,
and are reproduced by the echoes, it is impossible to estimate the
number of those who take part in the dreary noise, but often we seemed
to hear more than a hundred. They generally remain upon the ground
among the dense underwood and thickets of scitamine, and only climb
trees for the sake of obtaining fruit. Their track may be plainly
discerned on soft ground: they stop short wherever the _amomum_ grows,
of which they are very fond, and the red husks of its fruit may be seen
scattered all around.” The same narrator observes that the mischievous
and active sea-cat monkeys, which abound on the Loango, frequently
provoke the defenceless chimpanzees by their malicious tricks until
the tormented creatures cause the forest to echo with their discordant
cries.
These animals wander about, always in search of fresh feeding-grounds.
They also construct nests and, as Koppenfels states, the male passes
the night below the nest of his family, which is placed on a forked
branch. Du Chaillu asserts that the Nschiego-Mbouvé also builds a
pent-house. An illustration of this structure, which is only moderately
successful, and has undoubtedly been embellished in London, is given
by him. Koppenfels believes that the so-called pent-house is only the
family nest, under which the male places himself; while Reichenfels
thinks it possible that some parasitic growth, perhaps a _Loranthus_,
gave rise to the belief that such a pent-house is erected.
When chimpanzees are provoked they strike the ground with their hands,
but they do not, as the gorilla does, beat their breasts with the fist.
They generally take to flight at the sight of men, but if driven to
extremity, or wounded, they defend themselves with their hands and
teeth. The direct conflict with a full-grown chimpanzee demands, in
order to obtain the mastery over him, all the strength and presence
of mind of a strong and courageous man. I shall always remember the
large female animal at Hamburg, which was able to stand up against a
powerful man. Great daring was required to control the fury of Mafuca.
The Soko also, which Livingstone found in Manyema, to the west of Lake
Tanganyika, bravely defended itself, when attacked.
The native hunters shoot chimpanzees with firearms or arrows, and also
kill them with javelins. The Niam-Niam tribe go in hunting-parties
of twenty or thirty men, to track the bam in the woodland galleries
so closely interwoven by the liana, and when they have thrown nets
over these, they kill the animals with lances. Their flesh is eaten
in different parts of Africa, and their skulls sometimes serve for
fetishes. In a Niam-Niam village, by the stream Diamwonu, Schweinfurth
saw the skulls of men, chimpanzees, sea-cat monkeys, baboons,
antelopes, wild boars, etc., hung on the stump of a tree.
In the Gaboon district, as we have already said, the chimpanzee is
called Nschégo, Nschiego, Ndjéko, and the same names serve for the
people of Mpongwe, Galloa, Kamma, and Orungu. By the people of Aschira
and Malimba the animal is called Kulu. The natives of Niam-Niam call
the chimpanzee Ranja or Mandjaruma. The traders who speak Arabic adopt
the name Bam or M’Bam.
The orang-utan is found in the large Asiatic islands of Borneo and
Sumatra, more frequently in the former island. It is particularly
common a few days’ journey to the west of Sungi-Kapajan, on the river
Sampiet, in Kotaringin, and in other remote districts on the southern
and western coasts.[113] The Dyaks of Long-Wai told the traveller Bock
that the orang was also found further to the north, and at Teweh, as
well as in Dusem, to the west of Kutai.[114] Wallace states that this
animal is widely diffused in Borneo, inhabiting many parts of the
south-west, south-east, north-east, and north-west coasts, but that
it is restricted to the low-lying marshy forests. It seems at first
sight inexplicable that this ape should be unknown in Sarawak, while it
abounds in Sambas on the west, and in Sadong on the east, but a closer
acquaintance with the habits and mode of life of the orang enables us
to discern sufficient grounds for the apparent anomaly in the physical
conditions of Sarawak. In Sadong, where Wallace observed the orang,
he only found it in low marshy districts which were at the same time
covered with primeval forests. Many isolated hills rise from these
marshes, upon which the Dyaks have settled, and have planted them with
fruit trees. These are a great attraction to the orang, which devours
the unripe fruits, and then retires again to the marsh. He cannot live
on high and dry ground. Thus, for example, he comes in troops into the
low parts of the Sadong valley; but on reaching the limits where the
ebb and flow of the tide are perceptible, and the ground, though flat,
is dry, the orang is no longer found. The lower part of the Sadong
valley is indeed marshy, but it is not covered throughout with a growth
of tall trees, only for the most part with the Nipa palm; and near the
town of Sarawak, the country becomes dry and hilly, interspersed with
scattered tracts of primeval forest, and with jungle which was formerly
cultivated by the Malays and Dyaks.
The orang is more rare in Sumatra than in Borneo, and in the former
island is chiefly found in the north-eastern districts of Siak and
Atjin. Rosenberg states that the orang only frequents the flat, marshy
forests on the coast between Tapanoli and Singkel, living in thick
woods which, on account of their impenetrability, are seldom trodden by
the foot of man.
The chimpanzee also frequents the marshy forests which are not too
thickly overgrown, while the gorilla prefers such tablelands as are not
wholly devoid of water.
Wallace declares that a large area of unbroken and tolerably high
primeval forest is necessary for the well-being of the orang. Such
forests are like open ground to them, since they can move to and fro in
every direction, with the same ease that the Indians cross the prairie
and the Arabs the desert; they go from the top of one tree to the other
without ever touching the ground. Those tracts of country which stand
high and dry, being more frequented by men, and more often traversed
by clearings, and subsequently covered with a low-growing jungle, are
unsuitable to the motions characteristic of this animal. He is, in
these tracts, more exposed to danger, and more frequently constrained
to descend upon the ground. It is also probable that in the district
frequented by orangs there is a greater variety of fruits, since the
low hills, which stand like islands in the marshy plain, serve as
gardens or plantations in which the trees of the hill country flourish.
Wallace observes that it is strange and interesting to watch an orang
passing at his ease through the forest. He goes with circumspection
along one of the larger branches in a half-upright position, which is
rendered necessary by the great length of his arms and the shortness of
his legs. He seems always to choose such trees as have their branches
interwoven with those which surround them, and when these are within
reach he extends his long arms, seizes the boughs in question with
both hands, as if to try their strength, then swings himself carefully
on to the next branch, and goes on as before. The woodcut we subjoin,
taken from a photograph by Hermes, in the Berlin Aquarium, may help to
explain this ape’s mode of climbing[115] (Fig. 63).
[Illustration: Fig. 63.--Climbing orang-utan, seen from behind.]
As Wallace further remarks, the orang never leaps or springs, seems
to be in no haste, and yet makes his way through the forest almost as
fast as a man can run on the ground below. His long, powerful arms
are of the greatest use, enabling him to climb the highest trees with
ease, to seize the fruits and young leaves from branches which would
not bear his weight, and to collect the young leaves and boughs with
which he forms his nest. This structure, which serves for his nocturnal
refuge, is generally placed on some low, small tree, which stands only
from twenty to fifty feet from the ground, probably because such a
situation is warmer and less exposed to the wind. It is said that the
orang makes a fresh layer for himself every night, but Wallace thinks
this improbable, since, in this case, the deserted nest would be more
frequently found; this author saw some such nests in the neighbourhood
of the coal mines of Simunjon, but since many orangs must have been
there every day, in the course of a year their forsaken layers would
be very numerous. The Dyaks say that when the orang is wet he covers
himself with pandanus-leaves or large ferns, and this has perhaps led
to the belief that he builds himself a hut in the trees. The orang only
leaves his layer when the sun is tolerably high, and the dew has dried
off the leaves. He feeds throughout the middle of the day, but seldom
returns two days running to the same tree.
These animals seem to be much afraid of man. Wallace never saw two
full-grown specimens together, but both male and female are often
accompanied by their half-grown young, and three or four young animals
may be seen going about together without their parents. The orang
generally lives on fruit, but occasionally also on leaves, buds, and
young shoots, as, for instance, on the bamboo. They are particularly
fond of the durian, of which the smell is so offensive and the taste
so good (_Durio zibethinus_). They destroy much more than they
consume, and leave many fragments below the trees on which they have
been feeding. I do not know whether orangs, as well as gorillas and
chimpanzees, display any taste for carnivorous food. Huxley, who has
collected much information about anthropoids which is not accessible to
others, states that it is not known whether the orang destroys living
animals.
The same naturalist terms the orang’s gait on all fours laborious and
unsteady. If chased, he runs faster than a man, but is soon overtaken.
The very long arms, which are only slightly bent in running, raise
the body in a remarkable way, so that the orang almost assumes the
position of a very old man, bowed by age, who supports himself with a
stick. When walking, this ape places the closed fingers, or rarely the
open palm, of the hands upon the ground. The toes of the feet are also
curved inwards, so that the outer edge of the foot is turned downwards.
More rarely the toes are completely closed, or the whole of the sole of
the foot serves as the support. The use of the outer edge of the foot
in walking, as Huxley justly observes, is such as to bring the heel
more upon the ground, while the curved toes partly touch the ground
with the upper surface of their first phalanges, and the surface of the
outermost toes of each foot rest altogether on the ground.
Wallace says that the orang seldom comes down upon the ground, and
indeed only when he is driven by hunger to seek for the juicy young
shoots on the banks of rivers, or when in very dry weather he goes
down to the water, of which he generally finds a sufficient supply
in the hollow of leaves. This traveller on only one occasion saw
two half-grown orangs on the ground in a dry hole at the foot of
the Simunjon hills. They were at play together, standing upright
and alternately seizing each other by the arms. This observer also
considers that the orang is only able to stand upright when he has some
support for his hands, or when he is attacked.
Like other anthropoids in a state of nature, when the orang drinks,
he crouches down to the water’s edge and sucks in the liquid with his
lips. Occasionally, also, he draws water in the palm of his hand, and
gulps or licks it off; at any rate, he does this when in captivity. In
an old number of the _Penny Magazine_ there is a woodcut of an orang
which is very true to nature, in which he is represented as squatting
down by the water, washing his hands, and this is really his habit.
Müller and Schlegel[116] state that the adult males live alone except
during the pairing season. Aged females and young males are often seen
together in parties of two or three, and the mothers generally keep
their young with them. Pregnant females generally live apart, and
continue to do so for a good while after the birth has taken place.
The young, which are slow in coming to maturity, live long under the
protection of their mother, who, when she is climbing, carries her
little ones in her bosom, while they cling to her long, shaggy hair.
It is not yet ascertained at what age the orang becomes capable of
propagating his species, nor how long the females continue to bring
forth young.
This animal is slow, phlegmatic, and has none of the agility of the
chimpanzee, nor even of the gibbon. Hunger alone seems to prompt his
actions, and when appetite is appeased the animal relapses into repose.
In sitting, the back is so bent, and the head so depressed, that the
orang’s eyes are directed downwards to the earth. Sometimes he holds on
with his hands to the higher branches, but generally his arms fall idly
by his sides. In such positions the orang will remain for hours in his
place, almost motionless, and only occasionally sending forth a note of
his deep, gruff voice. By day he is accustomed to go from one tree-top
to another, and he only comes down to the ground at night. When
anything occurs to scare him, he conceals himself in the underwood.
When not hunted, he remains long in one place, and indeed, for several
days together on the same tree. He seldom passes the night on a high
tree, which he finds too cold and windy, and when night approaches he
scrambles down to the lower and more sheltered parts, or to the top of
some low, leafy tree, such as the Nibong palm, the pandanus, or the
parasitic orchids which are characteristic of the primeval forests
of Borneo. He constructs his nest out of small branches and leaves,
laid crosswise, and lined with fronds, or with the leaves of orchids,
_Pandanus fascicularis_, _Nipa fruticans_, etc. The nests observed by
Müller were some of them still quite fresh, placed at a height of from
ten to fifteen feet from the ground, and were from two to three feet in
diameter. Some of them had a lining of pandanus leaves several inches
thick. In others the branches intertwined for a foundation were united
in a common centre, forming a uniform surface.
The Dyaks say that the orang generally leaves his lair about nine a.m.,
and repairs to it again about five p.m., or a little later, when it is
growing dusk. He sometimes lies on his back, or, by way of change, on
his side, drawing his legs up to his body, and supporting his head on
his hand. When the night is cold, windy, or rainy, he covers his body,
and especially his head, with pandanus or nipa leaves, or with fronds
of fern.
Although the orang lives in the daytime on the branches of large trees,
he seldom crouches on a thick bough, as other apes, and especially the
gibbon, are in the habit of doing. He keeps rather to the slender,
leafy branches, so that he really reaches the tree-top. He has not the
sessor-callosities found on other apes, including the gibbon, and the
hips are not so wide and prominent as in those species provided with
callosities.
The orang is a slow and deliberate climber. He is particularly careful
about his feet, and seems much more sensitive to any injury to them
than is the case with other apes. In climbing he alternately uses one
hand and one foot, or else, as soon as he has taken a firm hold with
his hands, he draws up both feet together. In his passage from one
tree to another, he always looks out for a place where two branches
come close together, or intertwine. Even when hotly pursued, he
displays wonderful caution, trying the strength of the branches, and
pressing them down by the weight of his body, so as to make a bridge
from tree to tree. On this point the accounts of the Dutch naturalists
essentially agree with those of Wallace.
There is an eager search for these apes in their native place. Bock
states the Malays of Samarinda, in the south-east of Borneo, capture
them near the small brooks and streams which flow into the Mahakkam
close to that town. These animals come down to the river-bank in the
early morning and return in the course of the day to the thicket. When
the natives take an orang alive, they sell him for three dollars to the
Chinese, who at first feed the animal on fruit, and afterwards on rice,
but are never able to keep him alive for any time in captivity.[117]
Although, in the ordinary course of his existence, the orang shows
himself to be melancholy, slothful, and indifferent, yet in moments of
danger he becomes angry and able to defend himself. When pursued, he
is said to pelt his aggressors with broken branches, and the thick,
thorny outer husks of the durian fruit. This is the more probable since
the Tscheladas (_Cynocephalus Gelada_), the Hamadryas (_Cynocephalus
Hamadryas_), and other baboons are in the habit of hurling branches,
stones, and hardened clods of earth with great adroitness at those
who attack them. In a hand-to-hand fight, the orang seizes the arm
of his opponent, biting and scratching it whenever he can get at it.
Wallace says that no wild animal ventures to fight with these powerful
creatures, and that they can even obtain the mastery over crocodiles
and gigantic snakes.
The name orang-utan is derived from the words orang, man, and utan
(belonging to woods), and is therefore merely wood-man. It is an error
to write orang-_utang_, which, according to Von Martens, signifies an
_indebted_ man.[118] The Malay name, meias, is often used, and they are
distinguished as meias-pappan or zino, meias-kassu, and meias-rambi.
According to Rosenberg, the orang is called mawas in Sumatra, and Bock
says that the Dyaks of Dusun call it këu.
The gibbon in all its movements, and especially in those of its long
arms, has a very singular appearance. In the second chapter of this
work I have already described the geographical distribution and
grouping of the species of these remarkable animals. Although they
occasionally come down upon the ground, they are for the most part
arboreal in their habits. They prefer the tropical forests of high and
even of mountainous districts to any others. Many find shelter in the
bamboo thickets, especially in those formed by the gigantic stems of
_Bambusa macroculmis_ and _Bambusa gigantea_.
The siamang, properly Si-Amang, since Rosenberg asserts that the first
syllable is merely the article, lives gregariously in Sumatra, and
possibly in Malacca. Martens saw one of these animals in Sumatra,
swinging himself from tree to tree, right across the path, about fifty
feet in front of him. Diard states that a powerful old male acts as
leader to each troop. They raise a fearful clamour at sunrise, and keep
quiet during the day, always on the watch, and scampering off at the
slightest noise. They find it easy to get away on trees, but, according
to some accounts, when surprised upon the ground, they show no agility,
and are readily captured. Rosenberg says that in Sumatra the siamang
and unko inhabit mountainous forests 3000 ft. above the sea, keeping
to the trees which grow on the mountain-side, and rarely descending
to the ground. At the slightest sign of danger they hasten down the
mountain with speed which rivals the flight of birds, in order in a few
moments to disappear in the dark ravines. In the forests which partly
enclose Tobing, as well as on the mountains of Barissa, the siamang
is not rare. Bock says that in the recesses of the Sumatran forests,
this animal subsists chiefly on the leaves of a plant called _Daun
simantung_. This ape makes a horrible roaring noise.[119] When a young
one is wounded, its mother turns in a threatening manner towards the
aggressor, yet without being able to do him any serious injury. The
mothers seem to act with great tenderness towards their young, taking
them down to the water to wash and dry them, etc. Diard affirms that
before they are able to run alone the young animals are always carried
by the parent of the same sex, the male by the father, the female by
the mother. The siamang must fall an easy prey to tigers and panthers
(_Felis macroscelis_). The species is considered by the natives to be
slothful and unintelligent; and Bock adds that, although the Malays are
skilled in the care of animals, they are unable to keep these stupid
and slothful apes alive in captivity for any length of time.[120]
Harlan states that the hulock is found on the Garrau mountains, near
Gulpara, in Assam. These apes prefer the adjoining hilly ground to
the mountains themselves, which are several hundred feet higher, and
exposed to the winds. Their favourite food is a fruit called propul,
which is very abundant in this district. A traveller named Owen
encountered troops of these animals, from 100 to 150 together, near
the Naga and the Abors in the wooded hills to the east of Assam. The
noise they made was deafening. On one occasion, when Owen crossed their
path, he was threatened by them, and pursued with angry gestures and
piercing howls. They had also attacked a native of the district. Snakes
of considerable size (_Python reticulatus_) were torn to pieces by them.
The wauwau, or, as Martens calls it, the uwa-uwa, appears to live
more commonly in pairs than in troops. We learn from Duvaucel that
these animals move through the trees with great swiftness, grasping the
slenderest and most flexible branches. They swing two or three times
to and fro, and then spring with outstretched arms so that the flat
surface of the body resists the air like a parachute, and in this way
they can pass through spaces of forty feet, and go on for hours without
fatigue.
Gibbons are generally more capable than other anthropoids of walking
upright. Some species, such as the lar, the white-handed, and the
slender gibbon, display special dexterity and endurance in maintaining
this position. They press the flat soles of their feet upon the ground,
turn out their knees and toes, hold their bodies fairly erect, draw the
shoulders together, and place their half-bent arms by their sides, with
the slender hands hanging slackly down. Others walk with their raised
arms crossed above the head. When a gibbon is walking on perfectly flat
ground, he sways his arms to and fro like balancing poles. On irregular
ground they seize any projection in the way with their outstretched
arms, and, holding on to it, swing the body strongly forwards. In this
way they make better progress over wide tracks of country, since every
such effort enables them to pass more readily over difficult ground.
When in great haste, they go upon all fours without closing either
fingers or toes. In repose, these animals take a sitting position
upon their posteriors, cross their long arms and stare at whatever is
before them with an air of indifference. When seated on the branches
of trees, they lay hold of the higher branches above them for the
sake of security (Fig. 14). In this position some gibbons (_Hylobates
lar_, _Hulock_, _Albimanus_) have recently been photographed in the
Zoological Gardens, London. Although they are for the most part content
with a vegetable diet, gibbons sometimes eat animal food, such as
lizards; and Bennet saw a siamang seize and devour one of these animals
whole. I do not at this moment remember Huxley’s authority for the
statement that gibbons, when they drink, dip the hand in water and
lick it off, but I have myself seen this done by a captive animal.
They sleep in a sitting position without building nests: like other
anthropoids, they digest their food quickly.
In the case of gibbons, as of anthropoids generally, the length of the
period of gestation is still a matter of uncertainty. The young are
of slow development, and are not fully mature before their fourteenth
or fifteenth year. Neither is the duration of their lives accurately
known, since observations made on captive specimens only lead to vague
conclusions. If we observe the processes of osseous development in the
skeletons of aged specimens of gorillas in order to make an approximate
estimate, we may infer that the duration of the life of anthropoids,
at any rate in their larger forms, hardly falls short of the average
length of human life. But up to this time the question remains
undecided.
These creatures do not appear to be free from morbid conditions in the
wild life which is in conformity with their nature. In addition to
the injuries to the hide and skeleton which may often be observed, and
which have been caused by the weapons of man, or by the teeth and claws
of their own kind, there are often traces, especially on the skulls of
chimpanzees, of the decay of teeth and maxillary necrosis, as well as
of curvatures, excrescences, and united fractures of other parts of the
bony structure.
This brief description is enough to show that anthropoids in their
free life develop an intelligence which sets them high above the other
mammals. They do not, however, display the keenness of scent and
quickness of sight which distinguish some animals of a lower order,
such as canine beasts of prey and ruminants manifest in many different
ways. The structure of their nests is rude in comparison with that of
some other mammals--as, for example, of rodents. But we must not forget
that several of the lower races of men, such as the degraded Bedja, the
Obongo, the Fuegians, many aborigines of the Brazilian forests, and the
Australian blacks, scarcely rise above the inartificial structure of an
anthropoid’s nest in the construction of their huts.