Graham's Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, April 1841Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, April 1841
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
It was a minute anatomical and generally descriptive account of the
large fulvous Ourang-Outang of the East Indian Islands. The gigantic
stature, the prodigious strength and activity, the wild ferocity, and
the imitative propensities of these mammalia are sufficiently well known
to all. I understood the full horrors of the murder at once.
“The description of the digits,” said I, as I made an end of reading,
“is in exact accordance with this drawing. I see that no animal but an
Ourang-Outang, of the species here mentioned, could have impressed the
indentations as you have traced them. This tuft of yellow hair is
identical in character with that of the beast of Cuvier. But I cannot
possibly comprehend the particulars of this frightful mystery. Besides,
there were two voices heard in contention, and one of them was
unquestionably the voice of a Frenchman.”
“True; and you will remember an expression attributed almost
unanimously, by the evidence, to this voice,—the expression, ‘_mon
Dieu!_’ This, under the circumstances, has been justly characterized by
one of the witnesses (Montani, the confectioner,) as an expression of
remonstrance or expostulation. Upon these two words, therefore, I have
mainly built my hopes of a full solution of the riddle. A Frenchman was
cognizant of the murder. It is possible—indeed it is far more than
probable—that he was innocent of all participation in the bloody
transactions which took place. The Ourang-Outang may have escaped from
him. He may have traced it to this chamber; but, under the agitating
circumstances which ensued, he could never have re-captured it. It is
still at large. I will not pursue these guesses—for I have no right to
call them more than guesses—since the shades of reflection upon which
they are based are scarcely of sufficient depth to be appreciable by my
own intellect, and since I could not pretend to make them intelligible
to the understanding of another than myself. We will call them guesses
then, and speak of them as such. If the Frenchman in question be indeed,
as I suppose, innocent of this atrocity, this advertisement, which I
left last night, upon our return home, at the office of ‘Le Monde,’ (a
paper devoted to the shipping interest, and much sought for by sailors,)
will bring him to our residence.”
He handed me a paper, and I read thus:—
Caught—_In the Bois de Boulogne, early in the morning of the —
inst._, (the morning of the murder,) _a very large,
tawny-colored Ourang-Outang of the Bornese species. The owner,
(who is ascertained to be a sailor, belonging to a Maltese
vessel,) may have the animal again, upon identifying it
satisfactorily, and paying a few charges arising from its
capture and keeping. Call at No. —, Rue ——, Faubourg St.
Germain—au troisième._
“How was it possible,” I asked, “that you should know the man to be a
sailor, and belonging to a Maltese vessel?”
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