nett, "I
was writing, the ape being present in the cabin, when casting my eyes
towards him, I saw the little fellow taking the soap. I watched him
without his perceiving that I did so: and he occasionally would cast a
furtive glance towards the place where I sat. I pretended to write; he,
seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, and moved away with it in his
paw. When he had walked half the length of the cabin, I spoke quietly,
without frightening him. The instant he found I saw him, he walked back
again, and deposited the soap nearly in the same place from whence he
had taken it. There was certainly something more than instinct in that
action: he evidently betrayed a consciousness of having done wrong both
by his first and last actions--and what is reason if that is not an
exercise of it?"

The most elaborate account of the natural history of the ORANG-UTAN
extant, is that given in the "Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke
Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeesche Bezittingen (1839-45)," by
Dr. Salomon Muller and Dr. Schlegel, and I shall base what I have to
say, upon this subject almost entirely on their statements, adding, here
and there, particulars of interest from the writings of Brooke, Wallace,
and others.

The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet in height, but the
body is very bulky, measuring two-thirds of the height in circumference.
[18]

The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo, and is common in
neither of these islands--in both of which it occurs always in low, flat
plains, never in the mountains. It loves the densest and most sombre of
the forests, which extend from the sea-shore inland, and thus is found
only in the eastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests occur,
though, occasionally, it strays over to the western side.

On the other hand, it is generally distributed through Borneo, except in
the mountains, or where the population is dense. In favourable places,
the hunter may, by good fortune, see three or four in a day.

[Illustration: FIG. 9. An adult male Orang-utan, after Muller and
Schlegel.]

Except in the pairing time, the old males usually live by themselves.
The old females, and the immature males, on the other hand, are often
met with in twos and threes; and the former occasionally have young
with them, though the pregnant females usually separate themselves, and
sometimes remain apart after they have given birth to their offspring.
The young Orangs seem