"As to that," said the gentleman, "there is a considerable conflict of testimony. Mr. Wallace says that the largest killed by him during his stay in Borneo was four feet two inches from head to heel; and his outstretched arms were seven feet nine inches from tip to tip of his fingers. The face was thirteen inches wide, and the body measured forty-three inches around. Mr. Wallace further says that he measured seventeen freshly-killed orangs, and the skeletons of two others; sixteen were full-grown adults—nine males and seven females. The males varied from four feet one inch to four feet two inches in height; and the outstretched arms from seven feet two inches to seven feet eight inches. The measurements of other naturalists closely agree with his, and he therefore concludes that the stories of orangs exceeding five feet in height are extremely doubtful.
NATIVES OF BORNEO FIGHTING WITH AN ORANG-OUTANG.
"The natives say the orang is king of the forest, and the only animals that venture to attack it are the crocodile and the python. They only do so on rare occasions, and are apt to get the worst of the battle whenever they provoke it. One of the native chiefs says that when food is scarce in the forest, the orang goes to the banks of the streams to feed on the lilies, and in such cases he is sometimes attacked by the crocodile. His arms are so strong that he has been known to pull the crocodile's jaws open, and rip up his throat; the chief claims to have witnessed such a fight, which occurred on the bank of a stream, and was won in a short time by the orang.
"The same chief said that the python found his match in the orang—the latter biting the python's throat, and tearing him with his powerful claws. The natives have a great dread of the orang, unless they have the advantage of fire-arms; they sometimes attack him with their spears and hatchets, but they do so with reluctance, as some of them are apt to be severely wounded, if not killed outright in the encounter."
Fred wanted to know if the animal they were discussing was in the habit of walking erect like a man, as he had seen represented in pictures.
"The best authorities say he does not," was the reply; "and I think that such pictures as you mention are far more imaginary than real. He spends nearly all his time in the trees, and when he goes through the forest he moves from one tree to another by following the limbs that interlace. He feeds in the trees in the daytime, and sleeps there at night; his bed is composed of leaves gathered together in the fork of a tree, and he never remains long in one spot. The natives say he finds a new resting-place and makes a new bed every night; but there is some doubt as to the correctness of this theory. When he has been wounded, and feels faint from loss of blood, he will gather a quantity of leaves and form a bed, where he lies down and dies. In such a case the tree must be cut down to get his body, as no amount of shaking will dislodge it; or the natives must be hired to climb up and remove it. This they will not do readily, as the animal has great vitality, and has been known to spring up suddenly and do a great deal of damage after he was supposed to be dead."
"There are some other curious products of this tropical region," said the narrator, "which I will endeavor to describe briefly. There is a frog that flies through the air, and—"
"How funny!" Fred exclaimed. "A flying-frog! He ought to be a relative of the fish that climbs a tree, and travels on dry land."