Morning journal and courier., 1880-09-07
The OFang-Outang.
An Adult Specimen Captured for the Lon-
 don Geological Gardens.

An Adult Specimen Captured for the Lon- don Geological Gardens.
 From the London Telegraph
 An adult orang- -outang has arrived in this country from Malacca and will probably be- fore long become, in it's turn, centre of at- traction and sEthe lion Of the day'' in the Zoo logical Gardens. The orang in question is not, like so many of his kindred who have preceded him to England, an infant in years, but of middle age and full-grown. He stands five feet without his stockings and, being little bald and weu-whiskered, is very re- spectable looking specimen of the man ape. The baby orangs who have hitherto been ex- hibited have been guileless urchins of no de- cided character, solemn of countenance like other babies, and easily put out of sorts. Wis | itors called them 'tpoor little things" and ! though they were coddled with blankets and ! sop, women thought it, on the whole, rather shame that they were not also allowed. per- ambulators and rattles. The human help lessness of the very young orangs certainly justified this maternal sohcitude on their be- half, and the repeated failure to rear them to maturity told pitiful tale of lungs too deli cate to bear our climate. Their ways and ! habits, so those say who have kept them as pets, are exactly those of human babies They refuse to sleep alone, and even if left by themselves when awake will cry fretfully for a nurse. They like being rocked in @ cradle and hate being washed. When any thing is offered them not to their taste they kick violently, just as human beings of the same age do, but when satisfied with the bot ! tie or anything given them they croon in Q contented way over it until placidity merges into sleep. Toys have to be provided for them, and they break them all punctually, after, of course, having tried firmly but inef- fectually to choke themselves with them. When happiest, they lie in helpless fashion on their backs, turning their heads occasion ally from one side to the other, with all four hands in the air, hoping apparently to find something to take hold of, but unable to guide their fingers to any particular object.
 As time passes and they grow adventurous, they try to tumble out of their cradles, and fture, for, their legs being too weak to hold them up, they have to lie on the ground on their stomaohs until friendly hands place
 them right side up. All these baby traits of conduct and character commended the very
 juvenile orangs to the tender sympathy of
 their visitors and their wistful child eyes al-
 ways made them the pets of the public. But
 who, we should like to know, is going to pet
 the elderly ape that has just arrived; or how
 can we lavish any tender sentiment over a
 creature that stands five feet high and has a
 bald head and big whiskers?
 The great strength of the orang -outang
 now among us has indeed necessitated extra
 ordinary precautions in his confinement. The
 cage in which he travels was small that he
 could not have fair play for his tremendous
 arms, and the bars so thick that he could not
 make any impression upon thep with his
 enormous teeth. Impotent, therefore, for
 mischief, the hairy prisoner sits huddled up
 and roaring. Any interference with him,
 however kindly meant, is at once resented by
 language which might easily be translated
 into human equivalents, and the vigor with
 which he shakes his cage proves the sincerity
 of his ill-feeling. He is not of the interest
 ing age that excites the soft-hearted compas-
 sion of the gentler sex, for it is impossible to
 connect the great hairy ape with any idea so
 tenderly suggestive as feeding bottles and
 perambulators. If given blankets, he will
 probably eat them, and as for coddling him,
 the keepers might as well think of coddlng
 a team-engine. In their native haunts they
 were never trified with, for they were mon
 archs of all they surveyed, and the only neighbors capable of molesting them were the infrequent crocodile and the still rarer py- thon; while even these, so the natives say the orang does not fear to meet in 8 single combat. The hugesape, it is said, will leap upon the back of an alligator and tear it's jaws asunder Literally translated, ''orang- outang" means "the man of the wood" and the first half of the name is title of respect implying wisdom in those so-called, for the 1 chief of the Malays are styled t'orang,n and l so, also, in compliment to its intelligent sa- l gacity, is the elephant. In their naturaI l states they are not only inoffensive, but, | when suddenly intruded upon, betray no | symptoms of alarm, behaving from first to last with the greatest presence of mind, and 1 always dying with pathetic dignity. Natur- alists tell us that these apes watched them | when trespassing on their haunts with curl osity, but without fear, and would remain | quietly where first seen, in spite of prepara- tions for attack being in progress If es- cape seems desperate, they make no effort to run from the enemy, but, utilizing the best boyer that is available, avoid, the missiles, spears or bullets, as long as they can, and whA badly wounded move away leisurely in- to the thickest foliage they can reach, and ex- pire without cry.