in such a manner that it would evidently not fall. I therefore
returned home, and luckily found some Dyaks, who
came back with me, and climbed up the tree for the animal.
This was the first full-grown specimen I had obtained; but
f e m a l e o r a n g -u t a n . (From a Photograph.)
it was a female, and not nearly so large or remarkable as
the full-grown males. It was, however, 3 ft. 6 in. high,
and its arms stretched out to a width of 6 ft. 6 in. * I preserved
the skin of this specimen in a cask of arrack, and
prepared a perfect skeleton, which was afterwards purchased
for the Derby Museum.
Only four days afterwards some Dyaks saw another
Mias near the same place, and came to tell me. We found
it to be a rather large one, very high up on a tall tree.
At the second shot it fell rolling over, but almost immediately
got up again and began to climb. At a third shot
it fell dead. This was also a full-grown female, and while
preparing to carry it home, we found a young one face
downwards in the bog. This little creature was only about
a foot long, and had evidently been hanging to its mother
when she first fell. Luckily it did not appear to have .
been wounded, and after we had cleaned the mud out of
its mouth it began to cry out, and seemed quite strong and
active. While t carrying it home it got its hands in my
beard, and grasped so tightly that I had great difficulty in
getting free, for the fingers are habitually bent inwards at
the last joint so as to form complete hooks. At this time
it had not a single tooth, but a few days afterwards it cut
its two lower front teeth. Unfortunately, I had no milk
to give it, as neither Malays Chinese nor Dyaks ever use
the article, and I in vain inquired for any female animal
that could suckle my little infant. I "was therefore obliged
to give' it rice-water from a bottle with a quill in the
cork, which after a few trials it learned to suck very well.
This was very meagre diet, and the little creature did not
thrive well on it, although I added sugar and cocoa-nut
milk occasionally, to make it more nourishing. When
vol. i. f