s a good account of the Borneon ourang, with a brief extract from
Mr. Owen's valuable paper on the Simia morio; but, after dwelling on
the lazy and apathetic disposition of the animal, it states in the same
page that they can make their way amid the branches of the trees with
surprising agility; whereas they are the slowest and least active of
all the monkey tribe, and their motions are surprisingly awkward and
uncouth. The natives on the northwest coast entertain no dread, and
always represent the ourangs as harmless and inoffensive animals; and
from what I saw, they would never attack a man unless brought to the
ground. The rude hut which they are stated to build in the trees would
be more properly called a seat or nest, for it has no roof or cover
of any sort. The facility with which they form this seat is curious,
and I had an opportunity of seeing a wounded female weave the branches
together, and seat herself within a minute; she afterward received
our fire without moving, and expired in her lofty abode, whence it
cost us much trouble to dislodge her. I have seen some individuals
with nails on the posterior thumbs, but generally speaking, they are
devoid of them: of the five animals sent home, two have the nails,
and three are without them; one has the nail well formed, and in the
other it is merely rudimentary. The length of my letter precludes my
dwelling on many particulars which, as I have not seen the recent
publications on the subject, might be mere repetitions; and I will
only mention, as briefly as I can, the skulls of these animals in my
possession. From my late sad experience I am induced to this, that
some brief record may be preserved from shipwreck. These skulls may
be divided into three distinct sorts. The first presents two ridges,
one rising from each frontal bone, which, joining on the top of the
head, form an elevated crest, which runs backward to the cerebral
portion of the skull.

The second variety is the Simia morio; and nothing need be added to
Mr. Owen's account, save that it presents no ridge whatever beyond the
frontal part of the head. No. 9 in the collection is the skull of an
adult male: No. 2 the male, nearly adult, killed by myself: Nos. 11
and 3 adult females, killed by myself: No. 12 a young male, with three
molars, killed by myself: No. 21 a young male, died aboard, with three
molars: No. 19, young male, died aboard, with two molars. There are
many other skulls of the Simia morio w