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Show 1905.] NOMENCLATURE OF THE ANTHROPOID APES. 73 general description of the Pithekoi delineates very distinctly an Anthropoid Ape, and reads as though it was derived from a generalised knowledge of the Chimpanzee, a knowledge obtained no doubt from specimens which had been brought down the Nile from the Egyptian Sudan (in the southern parts of which the animal still exists) to Lower Egypt. A good summary of Aristotle's description of the Pithekoi is given in Dr. Tyson's celebrated book " On the Anatomy of a Pygmie, sive Homo sylvestris" which, as before stated, was published in 1699, and of which there are copies in two or three of the principal libraries. of London. I think I am correct in saying that in an Egyptian fresco or papyrus which is exhibited in the Egyptian collection of the Museum at Naples, a Chimpanzee is depicted amongst other strange animals brought to Egypt from the Sudan. I believe also there is a representation of the Chimpanzee on one of the Roman mosaics recently brought to light at or near Carthage, and now preserved in one of the Museums, either at Carthage or Tunis. The Byzantine Greeks, who, after Alexander's conquests, extended their trade to India, and the Arabs of west, south, and east Arabia, who maintained commercial relations with Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, North-west Borneo, and the ports of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea,, may have introduced some knowledge of the Orang utan to Constantinople, to Egypt, and to the Mediterranean world between 100 B.C. and the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Sir Walter Scott in his novel ‘ Count Robert of Paris' introduced somewhat fantastically a captive Orang utan into the story. I am not aware what foundation he had for this incident; and I think it somewhat improbable that an Orang utan could at that period have survived the overland journey from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, or the transit through Egypt. Marco Polo, the Venetian, in 1296 or thereabouts, travelled overland from Asia Minor to China and the Malay Peninsula, and reached Sumatra and possibly Borneo, bringing back with him stories of man-like apes, some of which certainly referred to the Gibbons, while one or two may be attributed to the Orang utan. Odoric, a friar of the Order of St. Francis, travelled overland from Constantinople to India during the first half of the 14th Century, and from India reached Sumatra by sea, He brought back distinct accounts of both Gibbons and Orangs. Ibn Batuta, a Morocco Arab, also journeyed to those parts about the same time, and described the Orang utan in his records. Friar Giovanni dei Marignolli, a Franciscan like Odoric, also travelled overland from France to China and thence to the Malay Archipelago during the first half of the 14th Century, and brought back from Sumatra, or more likely North Borneo, very distinct accounts of the Orang utan. At the commencement of the 16th Century the Portuguese conquistadores reached Malacca and Sumatra in their ships, and |
