other groups of Mammalia diminish rapidly, and soon entirely disappear. When
we consider, further, that almost all other animals have in earlier ages been
represented by allied yet distinct forms—that, in the latter part of the tertiary
period, Europe was inhabited by bears, deer, wolves, and cats; Australia by
kangaroos and other marsupials; South America by gigantic sloths and ant-
eaters; all different from any now existing, though intimately allied to them—we
have every reason to believe that the Orangutan, the Chimpanzee, and the
Gorilla have also had their forerunners. With what interest must every naturalist
look forward to the time when the caves and tertiary deposits of the tropics may
be thoroughly examined, and the past history and earliest appearance of the great
man-like apes be made known at length.
I will now say a few words as to the supposed existence of a Bornean Orang
as large as the Gorilla. I have myself examined the bodies of seventeen freshly-
killed Orangs, all of which were carefully measured; and of seven of them, I
preserved the skeleton. I also obtained two skeletons killed by other persons. Of
this extensive series, sixteen were fully adult, nine being males, and seven
females. The adult males of the large Orangs only varied from 4 feet 1 inch to 4
feet 2 inches in height, measured fairly to the heel, so as to give the height of the
animal if it stood perfectly erect; the extent of the outstretched arms, from 7 feet
2 inches to 7 feet 8 inches; and the width of the face, from 10 inches to 13 1/2
inches. The dimensions given by other naturalists closely agree with mine. The
largest Orang measured by Temminck was 4 feet high. Of twenty-five specimens
collected by Schlegel and Muller, the largest old male was 4 feet 1 inch; and the
largest skeleton in the Calcutta Museum was, according to Mr. Blyth, 4 feet 1
1/2 inch. My specimens were all from the northwest coast of Borneo; those of
the Dutch from the west and south coasts; and no specimen has yet reached
Europe exceeding these dimensions, although the total number of skins and
skeletons must amount to over a hundred.
Strange to say, however, several persons declare that they have measured
Orangs of a much larger size. Temminck, in his Monograph of the Orang, says
that he has just received news of the capture of a specimen 5 feet 3 inches high.
Unfortunately, it never seems to have a reached Holland, for nothing has since
been heard of any such animal. Mr. St. John, in his "Life in the Forests of the Far
East," vol. ii. p. 237, tells us of an Orang shot by a friend of his, which was 5
feet 2 inches from the heel to the top of the head, the arm 17 inches in girth, and
the wrist 12 inches! The head alone was brought to Sarawak, and Mr. St. John
tells us that he assisted to measure this, and that it was 15 inches broad by 14
long. Unfortunately, even this skull appears not to have been preserved, for no