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Show 36 trees, during the daytime, he is very rarely seen sq~atting on a thick branch, as other apes and particularly the Gibbons, do. The Orang, on the contrary, confines himself to the slender leafy branches, so that he is seen right at the top of ~he trees, a mode of life which is closely related to the c~nstitution of his hinder limbs, and especially to that of his seat. For this is provided with no callosities, such as a~e possessed by many of the lower .apes, and even by the Gib~on~; and those bones of the pelvis, which are termed the 1sch1a, and which form the solid framework of the surface on which the body rests in the sitting posture, are not expanded l~ke those of the apes which possess callosities, but are more like those of man. An Orang climbs so slowly and cautiously,* as, in this act, to resemble a man more than an ape, taking great care of his feet, so that injury of them seems to affect him far more than it does other apes. Unlike the Gibbons, whose forearms do the greater part of the work, as they swing from branch to branch, the Orang never makes even the smallest jump. In climbing, he moves alternately one hand and one foot, or, after having laid fast hold with the hands, he draws up both feet together. In passing from one tree to another, he always seeks out a place where the twigs of both come close together, or interlace. Even when closely pursued, his circumspection is amazing: he shakes the branches to see if they will bear him, and then bending an overhanging bough down by throwing his weight gradually along it, he makes a bridge from the tree he wishes to quit to the next. t On the ground the Orang always goes labot·iously and shakily, on all fours. At starting he will run faster than a • "They are the slowest and ]east active of all the monkey t ribe, and their motions are surprisingly awkward and uncouth."-Sir James Brooke, in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society," 1841. t Mr. Wallace's account of the progrc~sion ofthe Orang almost exactly corresponds with this. rna~, though he may soon be overtaken. The very long arms whwh, when he runs, are but little bent, raise the body of the Orang remarkably, so that he assumes much the posture of a very old man bent down by age, and making his way along b! the help . of a stick. In walking, the body is usually directed straight forward, unlike the other apes, which run ~ore or less obliquely; except the Gibbons, who in these, as In so many other respects, depart remarkably from their fellows. The Orang cannot put its feet flat on the ground, but is supported upon their outer edges, the heel resting more on the ground, while the curved toes partly rest upon the ground by the upper side of their first joint, the two outermost toes of each foot completely resting on this surface. The hands are held in the opposite manner, their inner edges serving as the chief support. The fingers arc then bent out in such a manner that their foremost joints, especially those of the two innermost fingers, rest upon the ground by their upper sides, while the point of the free and straight thumb serves as an additional fulcrum . . The Orang never stands on its hind legs, and all the pictures, representing it as so doing, are as false as the assertion that it defends itself with sticks, and the like. The long arms are of especial use, not only in climbing . but in the gathering of food from boughs to which th~ animal could not trust his weight. Figs, blossoms, and young leaves of various kinds, constitute the chief nutriment of the Orang; but strips of bamboo two or three feet long were found in the stomach of a male. They are not known to eat living animals. Although, when taken young, the Orang-Utan soon becomes domesticated, and indeed seems to court human society, it is n~turally a very wild and shy animal, though apparently sluggish and melancholy. The Dyaks affirm, that when the old males are wounded with arrows only, they will occasionally |