disappear. When we consider, further, that almost all
other animals have in earlier ages been represented by-
allied yet distinct forms—that, in the latter part of the
tertiary period, Europe was inhabited by bears, deer,
wolves, and cats ; Australia by kangaroos and other marsupials
; South America by gigantic sloths and ant-eaters ;
all different from any now existing, though intimately
allied to them—we have every reason to believe that the
Orang-utan, the Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla have also
had their forerunners. With what interest must every
naturalist look forward to the time when the caves
and tertiary deposits of the tropics may be thoroughly
examined, and the past history and earliest appearance
of the great man-like apes be at length made known.
I will now say ,a few words as to the supposed existence
of a Bornean Orang as large as the Gorillas" I have
myself examined the bodies of seventeen freshly-killed
Orangs, all of which were carefully measured; and of seven
of them I preserved the skeleton.. I also obtained two
skeletons killed by other persons. Of this extensive series,
sixteen were fully adult, nine being males, and seven
females. The adult males of the large Orangs only varied
from 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches in height, measured
fairly to the heel, so as to give the height of the animal
if it stood perfectly erect ; the exteht of the outstretched
arms, from 7 feet 2 inches to 7 feet 8 inches; and the
width of the face, from 10 inches to 13\ inches. The
dimensions given by other naturalists closely agree with
mine. The largest. Orang measured by Temminck was
4 feet high. Of twenty-five specimens collected by
Schlegel and. Müller, the largest old male was 4 feet
1 inch; and: the largest skeleton in the Calcutta Museum
was, according to Mr. Blyth, 4 feet 1^ inch. My specimens
were all from the north-west coast of Borneo ; those
of the Dutch from the west and south coasts; and no
specimen has yet reached Europe exceeding these dimensions,
although the total number of sjcins and skeletons
must amount to over a hundred.
Strange to say, however, several persons declare that
they have measured Orangs of a much larger size. Temminck,
in his Monograph of the Orang, says, that he
has just received news of the capture of a specimen
5 feet 3 inches high. Unfortunately, it never seems to
have reached Holland, for nothing has since been heard
of any such anifnal. Mr. St. John, in his “ Life in the
Forests of the Ear East,” vol. ii. p. 237, tells us of an
Orang shot-by a friend of his, which was 5 feet 2 inches
from the heel to the top of the head, the arm 17 inches
in girth, and the wrist 12 inches! The head alone was
brought to Sarawak, and Mr. St.John tells us that he
assisted to measure this, and that it was 15 inches broad
by 14 long. Unfortunately, even this skull appears not
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