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Show 38 leave the trees and rush raging upon their enemies, w ~ose sole safety h.e s I. n I. nstant fl1' g ht, as they are sure to be killed if caught.* Eut, though possessed of I· mmense st reng th' i. t is rare for the Orang to attempt to defend its~lf, especially when attacked with fire-arms. On such occas1ons he endeavours to hide himself, or t_o escape along the topmost branches of the trees, breaking off and throwing down the bou~hs as he goes. When wounded he betakes himself to the highest attainable point of the tree, and emits a singular cry,. consisting at first of high notes, which at length deepen 1nto a low roar, not unlike that of a panther. While giving out the high notes the Orang thrusts out his lips into a funnel shape; * Sir James Brooke, in a letter to Mr. Water house, published in the proceedings of the Zoological f:;ociety for 1841, says:-" On the habits of the Orangs, as far as I have been able to observe them, I may remark that they a~:e as dull and slothful as can well be oonceived, and on no occasion, when pursuing them, did they move so fast as to preclude my keeping pace with them easily throug·h a moderately clear forest ; and even when obstructions below (such as wading up to the neck) allowed them to get away some distance, they were sure to stop and allow me to come up. I never observed the slightest attempt at defence, and the wood which sometimes -rattled about om ears was broken by their weight, and not thrown, as some persons repro ent. If pushed to extremity, however, the Pappan could not be otherwise than formidable, and one unfortunate man, who, with a party, was trying to catch a large ono alive, lost two of his fingers, besides being severely bitten on tho face, whilst the animal finally beat off his pursuers and e caped." Mr. Wallace, on the other hand, affirms that he has several times ob erved them throwing down branches when pursued. "It is true be does not throw them at a per on, but ca ts them down vertically ; for it is evident that a bough cannot be thrown to any distance from the top of a lofty tree. In one case a female Mias, on a dmian tree, kept up for at least ten minutes a continuous shower of branches and of the heavy, spined ii'llits, as large as 32-poundcrs, which most effectually kept us clear of the tree she was on. he could be seen breaking them off and throwing them down with eveJ:y appearance of rage, uttering at intervals a loud pumping grunt, and evidently meaning mischief."" On the Habits of the Orang-Utan,'' Annals of Nat. History. 18"56. This statement, it will be ob. erved, is quite in accordance with that contained in the letter of the Resident Palm quoted above (p. 16). 39 but in uttering the low notes he holds his mouth wide open, and at the same time the great throat bag, or laryngeal sac, becomes distended. According to the Dyaks, the only animal the Orang measures his strength with is the crocodile, who occasionally seizes him on his visits to the water side. Eut they say that the Orang is more than a match for his enemy, and beats him to death, or rips up his throat by pulling the jaws asunder ! Much of what has been here stated was probably derived by Dr. Muller from the reports of his Dyak hunters; but a large male, four feet high, lived in captivity, under his observation, for a month, and receives a very bad character. ''He was a very wild beast," says Muller, "of prodigious strength, and false and wicked to the last degree. If any one approached he rose up slowly with a low growl, fixed his eyes in the direction in which he meant to make his attack, slowly passed his hand between the bars of his cage, and then extending his long arm, gave a sudden grip-usually at the face." He never tried to bite (though Orangs will bite one another), his great weapons of offence and defence being his hands. His intelligence was very great; and Muller remarks, that though the faculties of the Orang have been estimated too highly, yet Cuvier, had he seen this specimen, would not have considered its intelligence to be only a little higher than that of the dog. His hearing was very acute, but the sense of vision seemed to be less perfect. The under lip was the great organ of touch, and played a very important part in drinking, being thrust out like a trough, so as either to catch the falling rain, or to receive the contents of the half cocoa-nut shell full of water with which the Orang was supplied, and which, in drinking, he poured into the trough thu8 formed. In Borneo the Orang-UtaL of the Malays goes by the name of "Mlas" among the Dyaks, who distinguish several kinds as Mias Pappan, or Zimo, Mias Kassu, and Mias Rambi, |