The same writer has given a very interesting narrative of the capture of an adult orang-outang, which was of gigantic proportions. This animal was discovered by the boat’s crew of a merchant ship, at a place called Ramboom, near Touraman, on the northwest coast of Sumatra, on a spot where there were a few trees on a piece of cultivated ground. It was evident that he had come from a distance, for his legs were covered with mud up to the knees, and the natives were entirely unacquainted with him.

On the approach of the boats crew, he came down from the tree in which he was discovered, and made for a clump at some distance, exhibiting as he moved the appearance of a tall, man-like figure, covered with shining brown hair, walking erect with a waddling gait, but sometimes accelerating his motion with his hands, and occasionally impelling himself forward by the bough of a tree. His motion on the ground was evidently not his natural mode of progression, for even when assisted by his hands, or a stick, it was slow and vacillating.

It was necessary to see him among the trees to estimate his strength and agility. On being driven to a small clump, he gained by one spring a very lofty branch and bounded from one branch to another with the swiftness of a common monkey. Had the country been covered with wood it would have been almost impossible to prevent his escape, as his mode of traveling from one tree to another was as rapid as the progress of a swift horse. Even amid the few trees that were on the spot, his movements were so quick, that it was very difficult to obtain a settled aim; and it was only by cutting down one tree after another, that his pursuers, by confining him within a very limited range, were enabled to destroy him by several successive shots.

Having received five balls, his exertions relaxed, and reclining exhausted against a branch, he
vomited a quantity of blood. The ammunition of the hunters being by this time exhausted, they were obliged to fell the tree in order to obtain him; but what was their surprise to see him, as the tree was falling, effect his retreat to another, with seemingly undiminished vigor!

In fact, they were compelled to cut down all the trees before they could force him to meet his enemies on the ground; and when finally overpowered by numbers, and nearly in a dying state, he seized a spear made of supple wood, which would have withstood the strength of the stoutest man, and, in the words of the narrator, broke it “like a carrot.” It was stated by those who aided in his death, that the human-like expression of his countenance, and his piteous manner of placing his hands over his wounds, distressed their feelings so as almost to make them question the nature of the act they were committing. He was more than seven feet high, with a broad expanded chest, and narrow waist. His chin was fringed with a beard, that curled neatly on each side, and formed an ornamental rather than frightful appendage to his visage.

His arms were long even in proportion to his height, but his legs were much shorter. Upon the whole he was a wonderful beast to behold, and there was more about him to excite amazement than fear. His hair was smooth and glossy, and his whole appearance showed him to be in the full vigor of youth and strength.

This specimen is preserved in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of London.

Article credit Bill Dranginis
Sent in by Ray Crowe
Peter Byrne investigated the specimen in London.

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