Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1883-04-06
Krao. the Human Monkey"

Through Cne courtesy OF Mr.. Far1nl.
have had a private interview with the Gu
rious little waif, which he is now exhibi-
ting at the Royal Aquarium, Westmin is
ter, and for which he claims the distinc-
ton OF being the long ght-for "miss-
ing link" between m IN and the anthropoid
apes. Krau C srtainly presents some ab-
normal peculiarities. but they are scarce
ly of sufficiently pronounced type to jus.
tify the claim. She is, in fact, distinctly
human child; app .rently about seven
years old, endowed with an average share
of intelligence. and possessing the faculty
Of articnlate speech. Since her arrival
about ten weeks ago in L ondon, she has
acquired several English words, which she
uses inteligently and not merely parrot
fashion. as has been stated Thus, on my
suddenly producing my watch at the in
terview, she was attracted by the glitter,
and cried out cock, cock, that is. clock.
czock This sho sed considerable powers
of generalization, accompanied by some
what defective articulation. and it ap-
pears that her phonetic system does noe
yet embrace the liquids and r. But in
this and other respects her education is
progressing Il vorably. and she has already
so far adapted herself to civilized ways
that the mere threat to be sent back to
her own people IS always sufficient to sup
press any symptoms of unruly conduct.
Physically. Krao presents several pecu-
liar features. The head and low forehead
are covered down to tie bushy eyebrows
with the deep. black, lank, and lusterless
hair characteristic of the Mongoloid races.
The whole body is also overerown with
far less dense coating of soft, black hair
about quarter of an inch long. but no.
whore close enoug.s 10 conceal the color of
gas,e skin. which maybe described as Of a
dark olive-brown shade. The nose 10 ex-
tremely short and low, with excessively
broad nostrlls, merging in the FULL
pouched cheeks. into which she appears
10 have the habit Of stufHng her food,
monkey fashion. Like those of tho
anthropoids her feet are also prehensile,
and the hands SO flexible that
they bend quite back over the wrists. The
thumb also doubles completely back, and
of the four fingers. and Of the four fingers
all the top joints bend at pleasure inde-
pendently inward. Prognathism seems to
be very slightly developed. and the beau
tiful round, black eyes are very large and
perfectly horizontal. Hence the express
sion is on the whole far from unpleasing,
and not nearly SO ape-like as that of many
Negritos. and especially of the Jayanes
"Ardi," figured by me in Nature, vol.
xiii, p. 2OJ. But it should be mentioned
that when in a pet, Kraos lips are said to
protrude 80 far as to give her ''quit q
chimpanzee look"
Apart from her history. one might feel
disposed to regard this specimen merely
asa "sport" or lusus naturae, possessed
rather Of a pathological than of strictly
anthropological interest. Certainly isolat-
ed cases Of hairy persons, and even Of
hairy families, are not unknown to science.
Several we're figured in recent number of
the Berlin Zettscheif fur Ethnoloqis, and,
if remember, both Crawfurd (''Journal
of an Embassy to Away and Col. Yule
Omission to the Court Of Ava'') speak OF
hairy family resident for two or three
generations at the Burmese capital. This
family ia reported to have come originally
from the interior of the Lao country. and
10 the sauna region we are now told that
little Krao and her parents, also hairy peo-
pie, were found last year by the we'll
known Eastern explorer. Mr. Carl Beck.
Soon after their capture, the father ap-
pears to have died Of cholera, while the
mother was detained at Bangkok by the
Siamese government, so that KraO alone
could be brought to England. But before
his death photograph Of the father was
taken by Mr.. Book, who describes
him as completely covered with q
thick hairy coat, exactly like that Of the
anthropoid apes. On his face not only had
he heavy, bushy beard and whiskers-
similar in every respect to the hairy fam
lily at the court Of the King Of Burmah,
who also came from the same region as
that in which Krao and her father were
found-but every part was thoroughly en-
veloped in hair. The long arm, and the
rounded stomach also proclaimed his close
alliance to the monkey form, whne his
power of speech and his intelligence were
so far developed that before his death he
was able to utter few words in Malay"
Assuming the accuracy Of these sta te-
ments, and of this description, little Krao,
OF course, at once acquires exceptional sci
entifc importance. She would have at all
events been living proof of the presence Of q
hairy race in further India, u region at pres
ent mainly occupied by almost hairless Mon
goloid peoples. From these races the
large straight eyes would also detach the
Kiao type, and point to a possible con-
nection with the hairy straight-eyed Aino
tribes still surviving in Yesso and SAX
halin. and formerly widely diffused over
Japan and the opposite mainland.-A. H.
Keone,iss Mature.
A GAMBLERS LUCK.-The sporting
men Of Philadelphia are excited over the
fully corroborated story that q well known
character named Davis within . short
time has won nearly 500 900 from the faro
k,r~, v-Cl- a