CHAPTER V.

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.