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Show 20 nature; and as important additions have been made by later observers, we are at this moment better acquainted with the adult of the Orang-Utan, than with that of any of the other greater man-like Apes. It is certainly the Pongo of Wurmb ;* and it is as certainly not the Pongo of Battell, seeing that the Orang-Utan is entirely confined to the great Asiatic islands of Borneo and Sumatra. And while the progress of discovery thus cleared up the history of the Orang, it also became established that the only other man-like Apes in the ea tern world were the various species of Gibbon-Apes of smaller stature, and therefore attracting less attention than the Orangs, though they arc spread over a much wider range of country, and arc hence more accessible to observation. Although the geographical area inhabited by the ' Pongo' and 'Engeco' of Battell is so much nearer to Europe than that in which the Orang and Gibbon are found, our acquaintance with the African Apes has been of slower growth; indeed, it is only within the last few years that the truthful story of the old English adventurer has been rendered fully intelligible. It was not until 1835 that the skeleton of the adult Chimpanzee became known, by the publication of Professor Owen's above-mentioned very excellent memoir " On the osteology of the Chimpanzee and Orang," in the Zoological Transaction -a memoir which, by the accuracy of its descriptions, the carefulness of its comparisons, and the excellence of its figures, made an epoch in the history of our knowledge of the bony framework, not only of the Chimpanzee, but of all the anthropoid Ape . By the investigations herein detailed, it became evident that the old Chimpanzee acquired a size and aspect as different from those of the young known to Tyson, to Buffon, and to • Speaking broadly and without prejudice to the que tion, whether there he more ihnn one species of Orang. 21 Traill, as those of the old Orang from the young Orang ; and the subsequent very important researches of Messrs. Savage and W yrnan, the American missionary and anatomist, have not only confirmed this conclusion, but have added many new details.* One of the most interesting among the many valuable discoveries made by Dr. Thomas Savage is the fact, that the natives in the Gaboon country at the present day, apply to the Chimpanzee a name-" Enche-eko "-which is obviously identical with the "Engeko" of Battell; a discovery which has been confirmed by all later inquirers. Battell's "lesser monster" being thus proved to be a veritable existence, of course a strong presumption arose that his "greater monster," the 'Pongo,' would sooner or later be discovered. And, indeed, a modern traveller, Bowdich, had, in 1819, found strong evidence, among the natives, of the existence of a second great Ape, called the 'Ingena,' "five feet high, and four across the shoulders," the builder of a rude house, on the outside of which it slept. In 1847, Dr. Savage had the good fortune to make another and most important addition to our knowledge of the man-like Apes; for, being unexpectedly detained at the Gaboon river, he saw in the house of the Rev. Mr. Wilson, a missionary resident there, "a skull represented by the natives to be a monkey-like animal, remarkable for its size, ferocity, and habits." From the contour of the skull, and the information derived from several intelligent natives, "I was induced," says ~r. Sav~ge, (usin~ the term Orang in its old general sense) to beheve that 1t belonged to a new species of Orang. I expressed this opinion to Mr. Wilson, with a desire for further investigation ; and, if possible, to decide the point by • See "Observations on the external characters and habit of the Troo·lod te . b 0 J s mger, y Thomas N. Savag·e, M.D., and on its organization by Jeffries 'Vyman M.D.," Boston Journal of Natural History, Vol. IV. 184~-4; and "Externa; characters, habits, and osteology of Troglodytes Gorilla," by tho nmc author ', ibid. Vol. V. l847. |