The Orang-outang

Certainly the orang-o.utang present 8 luany te tures strikingly in common vvith man, and one which Buffon saw and studied is describid asbeing of sweet temper, baving tlia instinct to sit at table and behave bimself with perfect propriety. More than one instance is recordad of their liaving learned to play a lew notes on a líate - whence no doubt L'an's celebratcd pipes - and, altbougl" they do not appear ever to have learned to articúlate words, Tisson, m lio dissected one.decliired it to possess perfect vocal organs, axactly correspondió g toourown. Buffon's account of the creature would seem to indícate that, although he clasm s Jiiin with the apes. he was larly struck witn lus hvmidn qualities: "He has lio tail; his anus, hands, flngers, and nails are like our own ; lie alwaj walks ertct ; lie ba features verj similar to those of man, wilh earsoi' the same shape, hairupon his lieud, abeard upOU bis cliin, and skin neiliier inure uor lts haiiy than man possesses in i state of nature. The inhabituntf, theiefore, of his country liave not, hesitated to asHociale hiru with the human race ander the name of orang-outang, or 'wild man.' Looking only at his tace, one inight regard the orangoiitang either as the lirst of apes or the last of men ; because with the exception of a sou), lic lacks nothingthat we have and because in body hediffers lesa froni w;m tlian he does íroru the other animáis to whicfi the name of ape is giren." The observatlons of early naturalists and travelers exaggerate bis peculiarities m man y respi-cts as miglit indeed, be expected. la a state of nature he does not build himself houses, as has been assertéd, bis nest being merely a rude platform of sticks on the lowei branches of a tree, covered, in sotue rare cases, with a few broad leavés lor a roof. Although he is capable of appreciating the use of liif, and VNill warm liimself at one whi.cb travelers have lelt, he seerns to have no ïiotion of keeping it in even by thruwing on a log or two. Thongh he does not walk erect on two legs, lus favorito method of progressiori is by his hands lïoin brancli to branch of a tree; so tliat, after all, his (gemblance to a rcan is, at the best, superficial. lili it is very tiesirable that the habitó oí such a creatuTé should be eareíully studied, wheti, no doubt, niany interesting idiosyncrasies would bu discovered. Tlie close rnsemblance vvhicli does exist between the orang-outang and man, a genial satirist of the coiumencement oí this century, wbose works are too little read, Tliomas Love rt;uuoc.k, has turned to good advantage iu a political aorelette caüed "Melinooúrt; or, 8ir Oran ITaut Ton." The latten is a geníle simian of the same race as ilie disünguished visilor to the Aquarium, who, having bcun captuied in "the wocds I Angola" when yoinitr, is brought up by a sympathetic negro íamily, and ultímatela fiada his w.r. tnto tlie posse.-:sion oí a certain Mr. Forester, who, chartned bjrhisgei - ti tuess aud accomptlshments, purchases for liim a baronetcy and an estáte, introducás hiiu 111 good society, and proposea to get liim reluni'.id to ïJ;ii liainent lor the rotten borough of One? vote. The idea is, of course, an extravagant one, but in the author's hands it ïurnLshes the base not only lor ;u amusiüg slory.but theupporlunil.Y lor vt'iitilaling sound, eoniuioit-sence views upon the politics of tlie day. with Siiggcstidiis for the reform of tlie most glaring abusas, sooae of vliieh bave 8inco bee.n swept ;nv;u ; concerning some tliat still ïemain, Peocock's words