Its Weight Was Three Pounds
Nine Ounces, Its Height Fourteen Inches, And The Spread Of Its
Arms Twenty-Three Inches.
I preserved its skin and skeleton, and
in doing so found that when it fell from the tree it
Must have
broken an arm and a leg, which had, however, united so rapidly
that I had only noticed the hard swellings on the limbs where the
irregular junction of the bones had taken place.
Exactly a week after I had caught this interesting little animal,
I succeeded in shooting a full-grown male Orangutan. I had just
come home from an entomologising excursion when Charles [Charles
Allen, an English lad of sixteen, accompanied me as an assistant]
rushed in out of breath with running and excitement, and
exclaimed, interrupted by gasps, "Get the gun, sir, - be quick, -
such a large Mias!" "Where is it?" I asked, taking hold of my gun
as I spoke, which happened luckily to have one barrel loaded with
ball. "Close by, sir - on the path to the mines - he can't get
away." Two Dyaks chanced to be in the house at the time, so I
called them to accompany me, and started off, telling Charley to
bring all the ammunition after me as soon as possible. The path
from our clearing to the mines led along the side of the hill a
little way up its slope, and parallel with it at the foot a wide
opening had been made for a road, in which several Chinamen were
working, so that the animal could not escape into the swampy
forest below without descending to cross the road or ascending to
get round the clearings.
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