aken alive; that they
watch the actions of men, and imitate them as nearly as possible. Like
the ivory hunters, they pick up the fallen tusks of elephants, but not
knowing where to deposit them, they carry their burthens about till they
themselves drop, and even die from fatigue: that they build huts nearly
in the shape of those of men, but live on the outside; and that when one
of their children dies, the mother carries it in her arms till it falls
to pieces; that one blow of their paw will kill a man, and that nothing
can exceed their ferocity.
A male and female, of an enormous species of chimpanzee, were brought to
Bristol by the master of a vessel coming from the river Gaboon, he had
been commissioned to bring them alive, but as this was impracticable,
he put the male into a puncheon of rum, and the female into a cask of
strong brine, after they had been shot. The person who had ordered,
refused to take them, and Professor Owen secured them for the College of
Surgeons. The flesh of that in salt and water fell from the bones, but
it was possible to set the other up so as to have his portrait taken,
which likeness is now in the museum of the college. The rum had so
destroyed the hair, that he could not be stuffed, he was between four
and five feet high, his enormous nails, amounting to claws, were well
adapted for digging roots, and his huge, strong teeth, must have made
him a formidable antagonist. There could not be any thing much more
hideous than his appearance, even when allowances were made for the
disfiguring effects of the spirit in which he had been preserved. He was
entirely covered with hair, and not wrinkled and bare in front like the
smaller Chimpanzee; and it was for some time supposed, that this was the
Ingheena reported by Mr. Bowdich. Since then, however, some skulls have
been sent to England from the same locality, of much larger proportions,
betokening an almost marvellous size and strength; and these probably,
belonged to the real Ingheena. They go about in pairs; and it is evident
from their enormous teeth, that, as they are not flesh-eating animals,
these weapons must have been given to them as means of defence against
the most powerful enemies; in fact, against each other.
I now come from my own knowledge and personal experience to those of
others, and I cannot begin with a more interesting account than that
given by Mr. Bennett of the Ungka Ape, or Gibbon of Sumatra, the Simia
Syndactyla of
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