The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-14
GIANT APES IN BoRNEo.
Curious Facts About Alleged Cousin
of Man That Live in Trees.

vi Aldu AI6G 1.-Two IN 4rS0B.
From tie Washington Star.
MY acquaintance with apes has been
chiefly made in Borneo, ;" said Prof Henry
A Ward, the famous natural science col
lector Of Rochester, to q Star reporter the
other day. THAT great island is the home
of the orang, which il the most arboreal of
all monkeys. Tho animals live In trees
altogether, rarely, if ever, visiting the
ground. It takes two coed marks
men to shoot one, because they dodge
around the trunks. They do all tdeir
fighting aloft, and it is great fun to see
them drop the armfuls of fruit theys have
gathered In contests for it's possession. They
are plentiful in the lowlands near the coast.
1t is'rarely that any body ventures into the
Interior, because there the head-hunADg ma
tives prowl. Among them each man is re-
quired to have secured head before he is
permitted TO marry, and on this account the
young gentleman savages are continually
looking about for somebody to kill. This
makes travelling dissgreeable.
NESTS OF oRANGs.
Zone Of the most noticeable features of
the landscape In B)rneo is the nests of
orangs which are scattered about thickly in
anongsthe tall trees From their number
one might get q greatly exaggerated I'M
preston Of the plentifulness OF the species,
unless it were understood how and for what
purpose these roosting places ars con-
structed. The beasts are greatly annoyed
by flies, from which they are able to protect
the front part of thor bodies with their
hands, but they cannot keep the vicious in
scots from biting them in the rear, so they
gather q quantity of the leaves and branches
and make them iuto cOuches TO repoSe
agains- among the boughs. A protection
| OF this sort serves very well for a while, but
| presently It's material begins to decompose
| and the decayilg Leaves attract tue dies,
| which the orange is so anxious to get rid Of.
| Then he is obliged to make another nest of
| fresh stuff, and so he may require dozens of
them III the course of year. Inasmuch as
| he does not take the trouble to remove the
| old ones, they remain to adOrn the tree top
in which hsswiags himself about.
CURIOUS METHODS OF FIGHTING.
"OrGngs have very curious method Of
| fighting. In their conflicts among them
| serves, which are frequent, their effort is
always 10 seize the fingers of their ad YER
seriess and bite them. A very beautiful
| group OF these animals at the National
| museum, mounted by Mr.. Hornaday, ad-
| mirahly illustrates a typical encounter of
the sort. IL is owing to this method of bat
| tie that 1t is almost impossible TO procure a
| skin which does not LACK some of the fingers
| In defending itself against a man the beast
will always attempt 20 grab the arms of his
| human opponent, so as to chew Of his fin
gers. For this purpose its jaws are excel
| lently adapted, being enormously powerful
and equipped with huge iucisors.
THE FAvoRITE FOOD
| of the orang is the 'durion' fruit, which is.
| perhaps, The most delicious in the world
uniting, as it does, the davors of the peach,
the pear, and the strawberry. Like most
things nearly perfeet however, this fruit
has Overwhelmingly. that it leaves a
taste in the mouth the next day after it is
| eaten, which is more abominable than can
either be described or conceived To pro-
| tect itself from the rain the oraug crooks
its arms over its head. The hair on the
oranG's upper arm points downward, while
on the lower arm it points upward, the ap~
| parent purpose being@to shed the rain like a
thatch when the attitude l have describ is
assumed.
| A NATURAL ACROBAT.
"The other great ape which makes it's
| home in Borneo is the gibbon, which is a
small animal compared with the oraug,
weighing only about forty or fifty pounds.
1t is very frail in it's bodily makeup. The
head is set squarely upon the shoulders and
it looks upward. When walking on the
ground 1t balances itself along like walker
on the tight rope Its remarkable power OF
| grasp and dexterity in using its hands is
equally with the shape of its Uranium an
iadex of its superior intelligence, perhaps
because it is able to take hold of a greater
number of things and examine them. The
| gibbon is natural acrobat. Its trapeze
performances in trees are simply marvel
| Gus.
"The animals go in droves, whereas the
orangs live by families, and one of the most
interesting spectacles imaginable is to see a
| troop of them crossing great gap in the
| forest By thro wing themselves in succession
| through the air, each one taking a swing or
two TO gather momentum before launching
himself. So great is their agility that in
executing feats of this sort they seem like
birds
Natives in the countries Inhabited by
great apes regard them always as human
beings of inferior types. and it is for this
reason that for long time it was found
impossible to get hold of an extra gorilla
skin, because the savages considered it re-
ligiously necessary to cut off the hands and
feet OF the animals when they killed them,
just as they do with their enemiesn
The only harmless cure for sick head
aches is called Quickstop, aud sells for So
cents, at Solomons & Co., druggists. -Ad.