Anthropoid Apes

Appendix 309

INDEX 321

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIG. PAGE

1. Aged male gorilla 14

2. Ear of a male adult gorilla 17

3. The young male gorilla, from the specimen in the Berlin Aquarium of 1876–77 22

4. The same animal at a still earlier age 23

5. Ear of chimpanzee 31

6. Young chimpanzee 33

7. Head and shoulders of an aged male orang-utan 38

8. Ear of the orang-utan 39

9. Adult male orang-utan 40

10. Head of the white-handed gibbon 47

11. Ear of the white-handed gibbon 48

12. Left hand of Hylobates albimanus 49

13. Left foot of the same animal 50

14. A wauwau in the left foreground (Hylobates agilis); in the background to the right, two slender apes (Semnopithecus entellus) 51

15. Skull of an aged male gorilla in profile 56

16. Front view of the skull of an aged male gorilla 57

17. Skeleton of an aged male gorilla 65

18. Skull of an aged male chimpanzee 69

19. Skull of a very young female chimpanzee 73

20. Skeleton of the forearm and hand of the Central African bam-chimpanzee 74

21. Skeleton of foot of the Central African bam-chimpanzee 76

22. Skull of middle-aged female orang 77

23. Skeleton of young orang-utan 79

24. The Zulu king, Ketchwayo, in fighting array, with two of his men 85

25. Aidanill, hairless Australian 88

26. The same in profile 88

27. Dewan, Aidanill’s sister 90

28. Human ear 93

29. Magot (Innuus ecaudatus) 94

30. Capucin ape (Cebus capucinus) 98

31. Hand of a very aged male gorilla 103

32. Hand of a Hammegh from Roseres, on the Blue Nile 104

33. Satan’s ape (Pithecia Satanas). Shows the formation and mode of using the feet in apes of the New World 106

34. Human skull 108

35. The Neanderthal skull 115

36. Lower jaw of Moulin-Quignon 119

37. Naulette lower jaw 120

38. Lower jaw of chimpanzee 120

39. Sagittal section through the skull of a bam-chimpanzee 123

40. Human skeleton 132

41. Skeleton of an aged male gorilla 133

42. Skeleton of human hand, back view 136

43. Section through a platycnemic tibia from Cro-Magnon 138

44. Section through the tibia of a male gorilla 138

45. Section through the tibia of a male chimpanzee 138

46. Skeleton of the human foot, seen from above 140

47. Coaita (Ateles paniscus) 142

48. Muscles of the head and face of a European 151

49. Head-muscles of a Monjalese negro 152

50. Head-muscles of gorilla presented in Fig. 3 153

51. Palmar muscles of man 168

52. Palmar muscles of gorilla 169

53. Muscular system of the back of a gibbon’s hand 170

54. Muscular system of the human foot 177

55. Muscles on the upper side of chimpanzee’s foot 178

56. The brain of an orang, seen from the side 191

57. Brain of the chimpanzee, seen from above 192

58. Brain of gorilla, side view 193

59. Brain of orang, seen from above 194

60. Longitudinal section of a gorilla’s brain 196

61. Mafuca 216

62. The home of the gorilla 230

63. Climbing orang-utan, seen from behind 244

ANTHROPOID APES.

CHAPTER I.. The Development of Our Acquaintance With Anthropoid Apes.[1]

THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR ACQUAINTANCE WITH ANTHROPOID APES.

Our first acquaintance with the great anthropoid apes dates from the times of remote antiquity. The West Coast of Africa, which is the abode of these animals, was known to the Carthaginians as early as B.C. 500. In B.C. 470 Hanno set out with sixty fifty-oared galleys, laden with colonists and merchandise, on a grand expedition across Morocco to Upper Guinea. The object in view was partly mercantile, partly undertaken with the purpose of establishing a colony. It seems that at that time pioneering expeditions had previously taught them how far the coast was adapted for colonization. The Carthaginians met with “gorillai” on the lower range of the mountains of the Isle of Sherboro, and in the mountainous district of Sierra Leone(1). These are described as hairy sylvan creatures who replied to the attacks of the seafarers by throwing stones at them. Three of these monsters, of the female sex, were captured, but they bit and scratched so furiously that it was necessary to kill them on the spot. Pliny relates that at the time of the Roman invasion, B.C. 146, two of the skins obtained on this occasion were still preserved at Carthage, in the temple of Astarte(2). It was subsequently shown that chimpanzees, not true gorillas, were described in these “gorillai.” The latter animals are not now found so far north.

A list of the numerous authorities for the substance of this chapter is placed at the end of the volume.

An old representation of the chimpanzee, in mosaic, was found on the pavement of the temple of Fortuna at Præneste (now Palestrina). This mosaic is now in a museum at Rome, and has been described by several authors. It represents a scene in tropical Africa, probably on the Upper Nile. I find it difficult to recognize the chimpanzee on the mosaic amid the giraffes, hippopotami, crocodiles, and the other representatives of the animal world of tropical Africa(3). But it is well known that these large apes are found on some of the streams of the Upper Nile, as in Niam-Niam and Uganda. Pliny writes of these animals: “On the Indian mountains to the south, in the land of the Catharcludi, there are satyrs. These are the swiftest of creatures, sometimes going on all fours, sometimes upright like men, and they are so active that they can only be captured when old or sick”(4). These satyrs have been identified with the orang-utan, but the gibbon may also be intended, which is swifter and more agile, when in an upright position, than the orang-utan.

Subsequent to the remote period which we have cited, there is a long silence respecting these remarkable animals. Only at the time when Portugal became subject to the power of Spain, we hear something about them from Congo and Angola. The sailor Eduardo Lopez gave an account of the chimpanzee, which was published by Pigafetta in 1598 (5). There are later accounts of very large apes in the writings of Pedro da Cintra (6), Father Merolla of Sorrento (7), Froger (8), and William Smith (9).

Smith gives a representation of the chimpanzee under the erroneous name of the mandril (Cynocephalus Maimon). The illustration is bad, but it may be recognized by his description. In 1641 the Dutch anatomist N. van Tulpe (Tulpius) gave a better illustration of this anthropoid (10). This naturalist observed that the animal in question, Homo sylvestris or orang-utan (Satyrus indicus), is called quojas morrou by the Africans. An anatomical description of the chimpanzee, which is still of great value, was given by Tyson in 1699 (11). The anatomical illustrations included in this work are remarkably well executed for that time.

Our biological acquaintance with the West African anthropoids is considerably increased by the account given in the sixteenth century by the adventurer Battel, of Leigh, in Essex. This man passed through the forests of Lower Guinea, as sergeant of the Portuguese troops under the command of the Governor of Angola, Don Manuel Silveira Pereira. In 1613 Battel’s account was published by his neighbour Purchas in his Pilgrims (12). Battel speaks of two kinds of large apes, the engeco and the pongo, which inhabited the forest on the banks of the Banna and the Mayombe. The engeco corresponds to the ndjéko or nschégo (chimpanzee), the pongo to the n’pungu of Loango, or the gorilla. Battel’s description of the habits of these animals affords some characteristic touches which will concern us presently. We may date our earliest acquaintance with the largest of all the anthropoids from this adventurer’s career.

The Dutch physician Oliver Dapper published in 1668 a detailed description of Africa (13), in which there is much of value, and he mentions the large apes, called quojas morrau or morrou, which inhabit the kingdom of Congo (14). By these he apparently means the chimpanzee.

Some account, unfortunately rather vague, of the gorilla has been recently given by Bowdich in his very interesting work on the “Mission of the Anglo-African Company to Ashanti” (15). He says that there are several remarkable species of apes in the territory of the Gaboon, among which the ingenu (gorilla) is the strangest. The natives asserted that this animal is much larger than the orang-utan, generally five feet tall, and four feet broad from shoulder to shoulder.

In 1847 Dr. Savage, a Protestant missionary on the Gaboon, reported to the distinguished anatomist Owen that there was an ape in that country larger than the chimpanzee. In addition to this information, he sent some drawings of skulls by the wife of an English missionary, Prince, in which the supra-orbital arch is strongly developed. Savage gave to the animal the name of Troglodytes Gorilla, to distinguish it from Troglodytes niger, the chimpanzee. Owen also described two skulls of gorillas, sent to him from the Gaboon (16). The skull of a gorilla, sent to Boston by the missionary Wilson, was drawn and described by Professor Jeffreys Wyman, and with it the notes of the donor were also published (17). In 1851 the skeleton of a gorilla reached Philadelphia through the medical missionary H. A. Ford, who also published the latest accounts of the new anthropoid (18). In 1849 some remains of a gorilla reached Paris through Gautier Laboulaye, and this valuable contribution to natural history was received by de Blainville and Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. In 1851 and 1852 more perfect remains were presented to the Museum in Paris by Dr. Franquet and Admiral Penaud. In the finely illustrated works by de Blainville (19), Is. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (20), and Duvernoy (21), they are represented with great care. A splendid illustration of one of these specimens, excellently stuffed, consisting of an adult male, adorns the Photographie zoologique, by L. Rousseau and A. Devéria, which has, so far as I am aware, been published without any text (22). This illustration is so true to nature that I made use of it in one of my earlier publications (23).

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