. Evidence as to man's place in nature . him, I saw the littlefellow taking the soap. I watched him without his perceivingthat I did so : and he occasionally would cast a furtive glancetowards the place where I sat. I pretended to write; he,seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, and moved awaywith it in his paw. When he had walked half the length ofthe cabin, I spoke quietly, without frightening him. The in-stant he found I saw him, he walked back again, and depositedthe soap nearly in the same place from whence he had takenit. There was certainly something more than instinct in thataction
. Evidence as to man's place in nature . him, I saw the littlefellow taking the soap. I watched him without his perceivingthat I did so : and he occasionally would cast a furtive glancetowards the place where I sat. I pretended to write; he,seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, and moved awaywith it in his paw. When he had walked half the length ofthe cabin, I spoke quietly, without frightening him. The in-stant he found I saw him, he walked back again, and depositedthe soap nearly in the same place from whence he had takenit. There was certainly something more than instinct in thataction : he evidently betrayed a consciousness of having donewrong both by his first and last actions—and what is reasonif that is not an exercise of it ? The most elaborate account of the natural history of theOuang-Utan extant, is that given in the Verhandelingen 32 over de Natuurlijke Gescliiedcnis der Nederlandsclie over-zeesche Bezittingen (1839-45)/ by Dr, Salomon Miiller andDr. Sclilegel, and I sliall base what I have to say upon this. Fig. 9.—An adult male Orang-Utan, after Miiller and Schlegel. subject almost entirely on their statements, adding, here andthere, particulars of interest from the writings of Brooke,Wallace, and others. 33 The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet inheight, but the body is very bulky, nieasuriug two-thirds ofthe height in circumference.* The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo,and is common in neither of these islands—in both of whichit occurs always in low, fiat plains, never in the mountains. Itloves the densest and most sombre of the forests, which ex-tend from the sea-shore inland, and thus is found only in theeastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests occur,though, occasionally, it strays over to the western side. On the other hand, it is generally distributed throughBorneo, except in the mountains, or where the population isdense. In favourable places, the hunter may, by good for-tune, see three or four in
Size: 1390px × 1797px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookpublisherlondonwilliamsandn
