The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-10-23
PEOPLE LIVING IN TREES.
Men With the Attributes of Apes.
Phtladelphia Times.

/
"I am prepared to swallow the whole
story, except the punches in the mouth" !"
said a gentleman, the other day, to whom
Prof. George G. Shelly, anthropologist
and member of the Geographical Society,
was recounting the story of the capture
of hairy family, clearly human, but
bearing many strong resemblances to the
anthropoid apes, which were secured by
himself and the well-known explorer,
Carl Book, aided by some native soldiers,
in the wilds of Laos in the year 1882.
"There are," said the professor, "three
distinct races of men who live III trees.
These are Indians in South America,
who inhabit the borders of the Orinoco,
Tucuya and MADEIRA rivers; tue Veddas,
of Ceylon, and the Krao. Moniek, of Laos,
dependency of Siam. Krao-Moniek
means man-monkey. Laos is part of the
world which has never been thoroughly
explored and but comparatively little is
known about it by geographers and sci.
entists. It contains from eight hundred
to one thousand square miles and lies be-
tween the fifteenth and twentieth degrees
of North latitude, North of Siam, East of
the Menam Khong, West of AMMAN and
about four hundred miles Southwest OF
Tonquin. The reason why Laos has not
been thoroughly explored is because al
most everyone who has attempted it has
died Of malarial fever. That part of the
country in which the Krao lives is very
swampy, is inhabited only by men who
live in trees and by elephants and snakes.
The people live in trees to escape the
snakes and the wet ground. They weave
the branches of two trees together and
build huts therein. In climbing the
trees they use their toes as a monkey
does. They do not grasp the tree with
their legs as we'do. They do not use
fire. They live on dried fish, wild rice
and the rind of the green cocoanut. Their
only weapon is club.
THE BURMESE KINGS HAIRY FAMILY.
"Ten years ago, Carl Book, the author
of The Man Hunters of Borneo' and My
Travels in SIAM was travelling in Asia
on behalf of Mr.. Farini, the English
Barnum, to look for the tail people which
we're said to live there. In the Court of
the King of Burmah he saw and talked
with hairy family, which were kept by
the King for his amusement, as European
Kings formerly kept fools and dwarfs.
Book tried in every way to secure them
to take to Europe, but he failed. He
offered 100000 for one of them, but
money is no object there; they have
more than they know what to do with.
These people that Book saw were the
grandchildren of a hairy couple which
Crawford, who went to Burmah in 1885
as English plenipotentiary, saw there
and of which be published an account in
his book, "A Mission to the Court Of
Ava Crawford said that these people
had been given to the King OF Burmah
by the King of Laos.
"EarIy in 1882 joined Carl Book at
Singapore. We went up the Straits of
Malacca and made an expedition into
Rumbo, in the Malay Peninsula, where
it was reported that hairy race lived
called Jaccoons, but we did not find
them. We went back to Rangoon aud
thence to Bangkok, the capital Of Siam.
Book had once cured the Prime Minister
of Siam of a malignant disorder. This
was the means Of procuring us an escort,
twenty elephants and letters to the King
of Laos. After four months journey,
partly by land and partly by river, we
reached Kjang-Kjang the capital of Laos.
IN THE swAMPs OF LAOS.
"Our letter from the King of Siam
procured us the good Offices of the King
of Laos, who gave us guides, fresh ele-
phants, an escort of ten native soldiers,
armed with spears and bows and poisoned
arrows. After journey of several weeks
we came to the swamps where the hairy
people lived, but we had hard work to
catch them or even to see them. They
are wonderfully alert, their scent is re-
markably keen and they are very shy and
timid. We saw many of their huts built
up in the branches of trees before we
saw a person. At last we surprised and
surrounded q family, a mother, father
and child, at their meal. We made
dash for them and captured them. The
parents made little resistance, but the
Child fought, scratched and bit like
monkey. None of them were clothed in
ANYTHING but hair. We took them to
Kiang.Kjang and there the King refused
to allow the woman to 60 out of the
country. He had superstition that it
would bring him bad luck. She is kept
in his Court and treated with high con.
sideratiop. She appeared to have little
consideration. She appeared to have
little affection for the child and made no
opposition TO its being taken from her.
We started for Bankok with the father
and child. At stopping place called
Chieng- May the whole party was attacked
with Cholera. The hairy man we cap
tured and three of the escort died. The
rest recovered, though Mr.. Book came
yery near dying. We landed in Europe
with the child October 4, 1882. The
child is the child now known as Krao.
We know by her teeth that she is eight
wears old. She talks English and Ger
man. can read and write and has deyel-
oped the true feminine love for fine
clothes.
MODEST AND AFFECTIoNATE.
"She is modest, afectionate, playful
and easily managed. Every part OF her
body is covered with hair except her
palms and soles. The hair on her fore
arm grows upward, that on her back
grows inward towards the spine and will
form a sort of name, as her father and
mother had, when she grows older. Her
forehead is covered with thick, black
hair about three. .eights of an inch long
The hair of her forehead is entirely dis
tinct from the hair ON her head: Her
hands and feet, though entirely human
in shape, have the prehensile qualities OF
a monkeys hand. She has thirteen dor
sal vertebrae, and thirteen pairs of ribs,
like the chimpanzee, while we have only
twelve. And she has pouches in her
mouth in which she carries nuts and
other food like the apes"
At this point the visitor made the re.
mark which stands at the beginning OF
this article. Prof. Shelly disappeared
for moment and returned with the
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