Chapter 5

[Footnote 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, 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.]

[Footnote 8: 'Histoire Naturelle', Suppl. tome 7eme, 1789.]

[Footnote 9: Camper, 'Oeuvres', i. p. 56.]

[Footnote 10: Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap. Tweede Deel. Derde Druk. 1826.]

[Footnote 11: "Briefe des Herrn v. Wurmb und des H. Baron von Wollzogen. Gotha, 1794."]

[Footnote 12: See Blumenbach, 'Abbildungen Naturhistorichen Gegenstande, No. 12, 1810; and Tilesius, Naturhistoriche Fruchte der ersten Kaiserlich-Russischen Erdumsegelung', p. 115, 1813.]

[Footnote 13: Speaking broadly and without prejudice to the question, whether there be more than one species of Orang.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 15: Man and Monkies', p. 423.]

[Footnote 16:'Wanderings in New South Wales', vol. ii. chap. viii., 1834.]

[Footnote 17: 'Boston Journal of Natural History', vol. i., 1834.]

[Footnote 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 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.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 21: Mr. Wallace's account of the progression of the Orang almost exactly corresponds with this.]

[Footnote 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. 210).]

[Footnote 23: On the Orang-Utan, or Mias of Borneo, 'Annals of Natural History', 1856.]

[Footnote 24: Notice of the external characters and habits of Troglodytes Gorilla. 'Boston Journal of Natural History', 1847.]