Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-08-15
HUNTING ORANG.OurANGS.
An Interview with W. I. Hornaday, the
Rochester Naturalist.
Roehester nenncrnI


that our Rochester naturalist, w. T..
Hornsday, could tell OF many enter
tanning adventures through which he
passed while hunting them in Borneo
resolved to favor our Sunday readers
with the results Of an interview.
TO get down To business, Mr.. Hor-
naday, Id like TO listen to your own ac-
count Of orang.outang hunting III
Borneo,' quoth the young man with
the pencil and notebook.
"All right; fire away with Your Ques-
tons and Ill keep even with you, re.
piled the naturalist, rs he gave another
twist to the flax padding with which he
was winding the wooden arm skeleton
and iron rod to fill out one of the arms
of the largest beasts hide.
"When and how did You get settled
down to business rs hunter in Dor
ueo9"
1t sas in the fall Of 1851 think
in the month of September, that shot
this specimen upon which | am now
working. He was i'll size and weight
next TO the largest one secured -
weight u little more than lao pounds
The orangs inhahit the river country
and the adjacent marshes, where there
is quite y growth of scrubby forest
One day, rs several of my native as
Sistants and myself were padding our
boat lazily down the river, we heart one
OF those howlS, or growls, or bellows,
which could not easily be mistaken for
anything else than the expressive voice
NJ Ia, Y y.
lookout, and by-and-hy | caught the
first glimpse Of one of those great, red,
shaggy knees up III II tree top. Then
saw the ugly old monster laztly reaching
from hough to hough--and the sight of
such an orang. reaching six or seven
feet every time, was spectacle to be.
hold. waited my opportunity, fixed
the stock of my gun snugly against my
shoulder, and drew bead on his ma
jesty. The rifle ball lodged in his great
broad chest, and tina huge, ugly form
swayed little in the struggle between
lie and death. Then down it came
with rafting, cracking crash, almost
falling into our boat, which would GER
tainly have swamped us. OH how |
would like to SHOOT that old fellow over
again now There was game for you,
such rs the American hunter would
hardly feel encouraged to dream of.
had six or eight of the natives to assist
me, and they at once declared that this
was the largest MAS they had ever
seen. Accordingly, they gave him the
name Rajah Pedang," or, in other
words, the governor of Pedapg. They
are almost sure 10 cali big thing,
either in the form of man or beast, II
"rajah."
"rhe orang must be beast of very
ugly disposition, when captured alive,
is he not?'
"Ies, sometimes. got one alive
during my stay in Borneo. He was n
young one-not larger than an eight or
a ten year-old boy. When we discover
ed him he was i'll tree which stood out
alone by itself. The darkies cut the
tree down, and there he was. We had
forked sticks all ready for him, and we
put one of these over his neck, thus
pinning him down to the ground.
would rather have put my hand against
u buzz.saw then than into his mouth.
He was rs mad as tiger, and he took
no pains to conceal his ferocity. On
the contrary, he displayed it to the
very best of advantage. After we had
secured him safely we tantalized him
just to see how far he would go i'll his
anger. He actually became so enraged
that he took one Of his own fingers be-
tween his teeth and bit it through to
the solid bone Then, when we got
him into the boat, he managed 10 get
hold OF one of the fingers of his dead
mother laying beside him, and hit
that quite as fiercely as he had his own.
| tied rope around his neck and took
him home to headquarters. There |
assigned him to bathroom, where he
could have everything his own way.
But he was surly and wouldn't eat much
of anything, though | did my level best
to keep him supplied with the dellcacies
Of the season, and especially with boiled
rice, which is deemed good for the
orang-outang when IN captivity. But
he only hung upon the raiters with those
long arms of his and wouldn't eat ex.
cept when he tried to eat me. couldn't
induce him to become an admirer oil
NINE, and he plned away, as Orang
outangs always do in captivity. Their
disposition seems to be such that they
prefer death to bondage, and this is
probably the reason they are so seldom
seen even in the best Of menageries
One night we heard neavy thud in the
bathroom, and when we went in to sec
what was the matter there lay tile little
MAS, whose own obstinacy had been
the death of him.
Now, Mr.. Hornaday, people viii
doubtless be curious u know what you
think about orangs or gorrillas handling
clubs in fighting with man, as has been
been alleged by some persons claiming
knowledge on such subjects. How
is ity9
81 do not believe tliele i beast in
the world that does anything Of the kind
] am aware that one Of our recognized
authorities in natural science has stated
that the gorilla will utilize almoet any.
thing he can lay hold on for weapon
However, | have my doubts on that
point, confirmed by considerable obeer-
vation and experience"
Cutting Glass with Scissors.