of about half a mile, we were thrilled with
astonishment to perceive four successive flocks of large winged
creatures, wholly unlike any kind of birds, descend with a slow even
motion from the cliffs on the western side and alight upon the plain.
They were first noticed by Dr. Herschel, who exclaimed: "Now, gentlemen,
my theories against your proofs, which you have often found a pretty
even bet, we have here something worth looking at. I was confident that
if ever we found beings in human shape it would be in this longitude,
and that they would be provided by their Creator with some extraordinary
powers of locomotion." ... We counted three parties of these creatures,
of twelve, nine, and fifteen in each, walking erect towards a small wood
near the base of the eastern precipices. Certainly they _were_ like
human beings, for their wings had now disappeared, and their attitude in
walking was both erect and dignified.... They averaged four feet in
height, were covered, except on the face, with short and glossy
copper-coloured hair, lying snugly upon their backs, from the top of the
shoulders to the calves of the legs. The face, which was of a yellowish
flesh colour, was a slight improvement upon that of the large orang
outang, being more open and intelligent in its expression, and having a
much greater expansion of forehead. The mouth, however, was very
prominent, though somewhat relieved by a thick beard upon the lower jaw,
and by lips far more human than those of any species of the simia genus.
In general symmetry of body and limbs they were infinitely superior to
the orang outang; so much so, that, but for their long wings, Lieutenant
Drummond said they would look as well on a parade ground as some of the
old Cockney militia.... These creatures were evidently engaged in
conversation; their gesticulation, more particularly the varied action
of their hands and arms, appeared impassioned and emphatic. We hence
inferred that they were rational beings, and, although not perhaps of so
high an order as others which we discovered the next month on the shores
of the Bay of Rainbows, that they were capable of producing works of art
and contrivance.... They possessed wings of great expansion, similar in
construction to those of the bat, being a semi-transparent membrane
united in curvilinear divisions by means of straight radii, united at
the back by the dorsal integuments. But what astonished us very much
was the circumstance of thi