The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-02-17
oRANG-oUTANGs.

as follows: AS agent for WombWelPs
Menagerie, at one time the largest col
lection of wild animals in England, or in
the world, in all probability, l visited
India, Africa and Oceanica in search of
all that was rare and wonderful in bird,
beast and fish, and in my travels made
many narrow escapes from the creatures
that l hunted. But it was in Borneo
that the most terrible adventure of my
life befell me, when, face to face with the
gigantic orang-outang, [ was only saved
BY strange chance. 1t was in the early
sixties that l set out from the coast city
,of Branal for the interior of the island
in search of living specimen of the ami
nal spoke of. l had been warned of
the ferOcity and strength of these Great
ures, with their almost human lntelli-
gence, but it was my vocation to meet
danger, and had been so often in peril
GUS situations that had come to believe
in luck as being on my side.
So selecting three or four of the strong
est and brightest of the natives that APP
piled to me to join me in the excursion,
] provided myself with plenty of provis-
ions to last me sew eral weeks, and car
ried with me my net in which to ensnare
the animal, besides all the weapons l
boosted of. The woods are very dense
on the western shore of the island, ris-
ingsgradually to the foot of the mount
aims that traverse the land from south
west to the north, and from the western
shere to the eastern; and from the den
sity we proceeded very slowly, often hav-
ing to wait until the underground and
trailing vines, which latter are some
times as thick as a mans thigh, were cut
away by the short axes the men carried
on their shoulders. But was repaid for
the time it took to get over rough coun-
try by the finding of several rare Serpents
and the trapping of couple of birds
even less common; but was anxious to
capture my orang-Outang, and every
night spread my net, hoping to be
aroused by the struggles of the great ape.
| gathered from the natives that they
stood in terror of the animals, and |
knew that if l ran upon one of them in
advertantly would in all probability
have to meet it alone.
One day while camping on the banks
of a small sluggish stream that flowed
from the distant mountains, took my
gun and walked a short way from the
camp, hoping to find some animal that
would furnish meat for our breakfast,
when | saw two little creatures hanging
from the limb of tree, and so on APP
preaching them, saw that had the luck
to come across two new-bsrn orang-ou-
tangs. Calling my men to come quickly
with one of the small cages carried with
me, placed the little whimpering things
in a comfortable bed, made of moss and
cotton, and dismissing the natives, after
they had spread the net about the tree
for me, laid in wait for the mother,
which knew would return. | kept my
gun beside me, though / hoped to cap
ture her alive. In about an hour she
came, and, swinging herself up into the
tree, began to look for her children.
Not finding them, she sprang from limb
to limb, until she had searched the en-
tire tree, uttering low, moaning cries,
and at last sitting down under the tree,
looking up into it, and weeping aloud for
her lost darlings. l declare the Great
ure's grief so touched me that had l had
my way | would have run and gotten
them for her, but as yet she had not ven
tured into the meshes of the net, and
when she did so and was captured, |
meant to restore her babies to her, both
for humanity's sake, and because l
wished to preserve the little things alive,
as it would add to the value of the cap
ture,.and 1 calculated on getting over
$3.50 for the trio.
But as / watched the mourning mother
she began to scent the air, and presently |
leaped to her feet with roar of fury,
and knew she had scented the presence
of human beings. and raising my gun l
aimed at her breast in case of her dis
covering me and attacking me before she
fell into the net. But as she walked |
around the tree, evidently seeking SONG
clue to her enemy, her feet became
wrapped in the cords and she fell heavily |
to the ground Thinking l had secured |
her, shouted aloud for the natives to
come and help me to tie her, but, seeing |
my prize, they advanced so slowly that l |
had to threaten to withhold their wages |
If they did not come at once, as the |
orang-outang was struggling so violently |
that | feared she would make her escape |
ere | could secure her. At this threat |
the men came on but still showed no !
disposition to tdNya the creature, which |
was uttering shrflkcries of fury and fear |
and crashing her long, formidable teeth |
at us; SO, pulling out my bottle of ether |
and the sponge l used in capturing the
more dangerous animals, tied it to a
long cane, which l thrust under the ami
mails nose. She fell at once, and the
men coming up helped me to secure her
with stout rope.
The young orang-outangs were then |
liberated, and on the mother coming to |
herself she sucked them. l knew the |
little fellows we're not likely to run away |
as long as they were With their mother. |
Camp was struck and we started on our |
homeward way, going slowly because of |
the necessity of tying the orang-outang's |
feet so that she could not escape, though |
leaving them so that she could walk be- |
hind horse. We had gone several miles |
when sort of roar was heard in the |
woods at some little distance behind us,
and from having heard il that day when |
the Orang-outang was caught, l recog-
nized it as the cry of another of the All
mails. The captive heard it also, and,
raising her dropping head, gave shrill |
answer 1t was evidently her mate, who |
on coming home, had found his family |
gone, and had at once started after them. |
The natives turned pallid and broke and |
ran in insane terror. Most of them |
plunged into the river, while two sought
refuge in the branches of = tree growing
on the bank AS for me l looked to the
loading of my gun, and got out my knife,
crouching beneath the trunk of a giant
sage tree, and waited for the great ape
that came running, le2ping, swinging
himself from limb to limb of the trees as
best suited the speed he was making.
When the male at last caught sight of
the young orang-outangs and their
manacled mother, he gave a scream, half