"The Orang," says he, "differs not only from the Pigmy of Tyson and from
the Orang of Tulpius by its peculiar colour and its long toes, but
also by its whole external form. Its arms, its hands, and its feet are
longer, while the thumbs, on the contrary, are much shorter, and the
great toes much smaller in proportion."* ([Footnote] *Camper, 'Oeuvres',
i. p. 56.) And again, "The true Orang, that is to say, that of Asia,
that of Borneo, is consequently not the Pithecus, or tailless Ape, which
the Greeks, and especially Galen, have described. It is neither
the Pongo nor the Jocko, nor the Orang of Tulpius, nor the Pigmy of
Tyson,--IT IS AN ANIMAL OF A PECULIAR SPECIES, as I shall prove in the
clearest manner by the organs of voice and the skeleton in the following
chapters" (l. c. p. 64).
A few years later, M. Radermacher, who held a high office in the
Government of the Dutch dominions in India, and was an active member of
the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences, published, in the second part
of the Transactions of that Society,* a Description of the Island of
Borneo, which was written between the years 1779 and 1781, and, among
much other interesting matter, contains some notes upon the Orang.
([Footnote] *Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap. Tweede
Deel. Derde Druk. 1826. The small sort of Orang-Utan, viz. that of
Vosmaer and of Edwards, he says, is found only in Borneo, and chiefly
about Banjermassing, Mampauwa, and Landak. Of these he had seen some
fifty during his residence in the Indies; but none exceeded 2 1/2 feet
in length. The larger sort, often regarded as a chimera, continues
Radermacher, would perhaps long have remained so, had it not been for
the exertions of the Resident at Rembang, M. Palm, who, on returning
from Landak towards Pontiana, shot one, and forwarded it to Batavia in
spirit, for transmission to Europe.
Palm's letter describing the capture runs thus:--"Herewith I send your
Excellency, contrary to all expectation (since long ago I offered more
than a hundred ducats to the natives for an Orang-Utan of four or five
feet high) an Orang which I heard of this morning about eight o'clock.
For a long time we did our best to take the frightful beast alive in the
dense forest about half way to Landak. We forgot even to eat, so anxious
were we not to let him escape; but it was necessary to take care that
he did not revenge himself, as he kept continually breaking off heavy
pieces of wood and green branches, and dashing them at us. This game
lasted till four o'clock in the afternoon, when we determined to shoot
him; in which I succeeded very well, and indeed better than I ever shot
from a boat before; for the bullet went just into the side of his chest,
so that he was not much damaged. We got him into the prow still living,
and bound him fast, and next morning he died of his wounds. All Pontiana
came on board to see him when we arrived." Palm gives his height from
the head to the heel as 49 inches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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