t
condition. Furthermore, he is very clear as to the specific distinctness
of the true East Indian Orang.

"The Orang," says he, "differs not only from the Pigmy of Tyson and from
the Orang of Tulpius by its peculiar colour and its long toes, but
also by its whole external form. Its arms, its hands, and its feet are
longer, while the thumbs, on the contrary, are much shorter, and the
great toes much smaller in proportion." [9] And again, "The true Orang,
that is to say, that of Asia, that of Borneo, is consequently not the
Pithecus, or tailless Ape, which the Greeks, and especially Galen,
have described. It is neither the Pongo nor the Jocko, nor the Orang
of Tulpius, nor the Pigmy of Tyson,--'it is an animal of a peculiar
species', as I shall prove in the clearest manner by the organs of voice
and the skeleton in the following chapters" (l. c. p. 64).

A few years later, M. Radermacher, who held a high office in the
Government of the Dutch dominions in India, and was an active member of
the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences, published, in the second part
of the Transactions of that Society, [10] a Description of the Island
of Borneo, which was written between the years 1779 and 1781, and, among
much other interesting matter, contains some notes upon the Orang. The
small sort of Orang-Utan, viz. that of Vosmaer and of Edwards, he says,
is found only in Borneo, and chiefly about Banjermassing, Mampauwa,
and Landak. Of these he had seen some fifty during his residence in the
Indies; but none exceeded 2 1/2 feet in length. The larger sort, often
regarded as a chimaera, continues Radermacher, would perhaps long
have remained so, had it not been for the exertions of the Resident at
Rembang, M. Palm, who, on returning from Landak towards Pontiana, shot
one, and forwarded it to Batavia in spirit, for transmission to Europe.

Palm's letter describing the capture runs thus:--"Herewith I send your
Excellency, contrary to all expectation (since long ago I offered more
than a hundred ducats to the natives for an Orang-Utan of four or five
feet high) an Orang which I heard of this morning about eight o'clock.
For a long time we did our best to take the frightful beast alive in the
dense forest about half way to Landak. We forgot even to eat, so anxious
were we not to let him escape; but it was necessary to take care that
he did not revenge himself, as he kept continually breaking off heavy
pieces of wood and green branches, an