were almost perfect; whence it may be inferred that it had nearly acquired its full growth, and that its life does not extend be yond 25 years.

We know that the faculties of the understanding are not developed until the organs are formed: we are at liberty to suppose, therefore, that if our ourang-outang had arrived at an adult age, she would have exhibited phenomena still more curious than those which we have to detail; but, if we reflect that this animal was scarcely 16 months old when it died, we shall find plenty of subjects of astonishment in the observations which it afforded, and of which we are about to give an account.

Nature has given the ourang-outang but few means of defence. Next to man, it is an animal perhaps which finds in its own resources the feeblest defence against dangers: but in recompence it has a great facility in ascending trees, and thus escaping the enemies which it cannot combat. During the first week after its embarkation this ourang-outang evinced great fears for its safety, and seemed greatly to exaggerate the dangers of the rolling of the vessel. It never ventured to walk, without firmly grasping in its hands the ropes or other parts of the vessel. The means employed by the ourang-outangs in defending themselves, are in general those which are common to all timid animals,-artifice and prudence: but the former have a strength of judgment far superior to the latter, and which they employ occasionally to remove enemies from them who are stronger. This was proved to us in a very remarkable manner by the animal in question. Living in a state of liberty, he was accustomed in fine weather to visit a garden, where he could take exercise in the open air by ascending and sitting among the trees. One day that it was perched on a tree, a person approached it as if with an intention to catch it; but the animal instantly laid hold of the adjoining branches and shook them with all its force, as if it was his intention to frighten the person who attempted to ascend, by suggesting the risk of his failing. This experiment was frequently made with the same results. In whatever way we regard the above action, it must be impossible for us to overlook the result of a combination of acute intelligence, or to deny to the animal the faculty of generalizing.

The natual wants of the ourang-outangs are so easily satisfied, that these animals must find in their organization resources enough, not to compel them to a great exertion of their intellec tual faculties in this respect. Fruits are their principal food, and, as we have already seen, their limbs are peculiarly adapted for ascending trees. It is probable, therefore, that, in their state of nature, these animals employ their intelligence much oftener to preserve themselves from harm than to procure food. But all

their habits must change, the instant they are in the society or under the protection of men: their dangers must be diminished, and their wants increased. This is evinced by all the domestic animals, and à fortiori by our ourang-outang. In short, its intelligence was much more frequently called into action to satisfy its wants than to avert danger. I ought to place in this first division a custom of this animal, which appeared to be a phenomenon of instinct, the only one of the kind which it exhibited. While the season did not admit of its leaving the house, it practised a custom which appeared singular, and which was at first difficult to account for: this consisted in mounting upon an old desk to perform the functions of nature; but as soon as the warmth of spring admitted of its going into the garden, this extraordinary custom was accounted for: it never failed to ascend a tree when it wanted to perform these functions, and this method has even been resorted to, with success, as a remedy for its habitual constipation: when it did not ascend the tree of itself, it was placed upon it; and, if its efforts produced no evacuation, it was a proof that bathing was necessary.

We have already seen that one of the principal wants of our ourang-outang was to live in society, and to attach itself to persons who treated it with kindness. For M. Decaen it had a particular affection, of which it gave daily proofs. One morning it entered his apartment while he was still in bed, and threw itself upon him, embracing him strongly, and applying its lips to his breast which it sucked as it used to do his fingers. On another occasion it gave him a still stronger proof of its attachment. It was accustomed to come to him at meal times, which it knew very well, in expectation of victuals. With this view it leapt up behind his chair, and perched upon the back of it; when he gave it what he thought proper. On his arrival in Spain, M. Decaen went ashore, and another officer of the ship supplied his place at table; the ourang-outang placed itself on the back of the chair as usual; but as soon as it perceived a stranger in its master's place, it refused all food, threw itself on the floor, and rolled about in great distress, frequently striking its head and moaning bitterly. I have frequently seen it testify its impatience in this way: when any thing was refused which it wanted, not being able or not daring to attack those who opposed its wishes, it would throw itself on the floor, strike its head, and thereby endeavour to excite interest or pity in a more lively manner. This method of expressing sorrow or anger is not observable in any animal, man excepted. Was this ourang-outang led to act in this manner from the same motives which actuate us in similar circumstances? I am inclined to answer this question in the affirmative: for in its passion it would occasionally raise its head from the ground and

suspend its cries, in order to see if it had produced any effect on the people around, and if they were disposed to yield to its entreaties: when it thought there was nothing favourable in their looks or gestures, it began crying again.

This desire for marks of kindness generally led our ourangoutang to search for persons whom it knew, and to shun solitude, which seemed to displease it so much that one day it employed its intelligence in a singular way to break loose from it. It was shut into a closet adjoining the room where the people of the house usually met; several times it ascended a chair in order to open the door, which it effected, as the chair usually stood near the door, which was fastened with a latch. In order to prevent it from repeating this operation, the chair was removed some distance from the door: but scarcely was it shut when it again opened, and the ourang-outang was seen descending from the chair, which it had pushed towards the door in order to enable it to reach the latch. Can we refuse to ascribe this action to the faculty of generalizing? It is certain that the animal had never been taught to make use of a chair for opening doors, and it had never even seen any person do so. All that it could learn from its own experience was, that by mounting upon a chair it could raise itself to a level with things that were higher than it; and it may have seen from the actions of others that chairs might be moved from one place to another, and that the door in question was moved by lifting the latch: but these very ideas are generalizations, and it is only by combining them with each other, that the animal could have been led to the action which we have related. I do not think that any other animal ever carried the force of reasoning further. To conclude :--men were not the only beings of a different species to which the ourang-outang attached itself: it conceived an affection for two cats, which was sometimes attended with inconvenience: it generally kept one or other under its arm, and at other times it placed them on its head; but as on these various movements the cats were afraid of falling, they seized with their claws the skin of the ourangoutang, which patiently endured the pain which it experienced. Twice or thrice indeed it attentively examined their feet, and after discovering their nails, it attempted to remove them, but with its fingers only: not being able to accomplish this object, it seemed resigned to the pain they gave it, rather than renounce the pleasure of toying with the animals. This desire of placing the cats on its head was displayed on a great many other occasions, and I never was able to divine the cause of it. If some small pieces of paper fell into its hands, it raised them to its head, and it did the same with ashes, earth, bones, &c.

It has already been mentioned that it took its food with its

hands or mouth; it was not very expert in handling our knives and forks, and in this respect it resembled some savages whom we have heard of, but it made up for its awkwardness by its ingenuity: when the meat which was on its plate did not lie conveniently for its spoon, it gave the spoon to the person next it, in order that he might fill it. It drank very well out of a glass, which it could hold in its two hands. One day, after having put down the glass, it saw that it was likely to fall, and it instantly placed its hand at the side to which the glass inclined, and thereby saved it. Several persons were witnesses to these circum

stances.

Almost all animals have occasion to protect themselves against the effects of cold, and it is probable that the ourang-outangs are in this predicament in the rainy season. I am ignorant of the means resorted to by them in their state of nature, but our ourangoutang almost continually kept itself covered. When on shipboard, it laid hold of every thing that came in its way; and, when a sailor had lost any of his clothes, he was sure to find them in the ourang-outang's bed. The care which it took to keep itself covered furnished us with an excellent proof of its intelligence, and proved not only that it could generalize its ideas, but that it had the sentiment of future wants. Its coverlid was spread every day, on a piece of grass in the garden, in front of the dining room, and every day after dinner it went straight to the garden, took its coverlid upon its shoulders, and leaped upon the shoulders of a domestic that he might carry it to bed. One day that its upper covering was not in its usual place, it searched until it found it, and then threw it over its shoulders as usual.

FROM THE UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE.

ACCOUNT OF THE GEYSERS.

(From Hooker's Journal of a Tour in Iceland.)

THIS morning we had rain and squalls. After breakfast the priest came down and begged that he might be allowed to accompany me to the Geysers; but this I could by no means consent to, as it was my full intention to proceed to Hecla, and to return by another rout. He insisted, however, upon conducting me some way on my road, and especially across a river, which he called Brueraa, and which, owing to the late wet weather, he thought might probably be too deep to cross to-day. He accordingly went to his wardrobe in the church, dressed himself in his

best clothes, and was ready to start with us. We continued our journey along the foot of a barren mountain, at no great distance from the marshes. Here and there, indeed, we met with a few stunted birch trees, but no plants that I had not seen elsewhere. Leaving the mountain, and crossing a disagreeable swamp, we, in about two or three hours, arrived at the most fordable part of the Brueraa. There was already a party of horsemen, resting their horses a little, to prepare them for the fatigue of passing through this stream, the bottom of which is exceedingly rocky, and the river itself both wide and deep, but at this time considered fordable. The packages of fish, wool, &c., were carefully fastened by ropes to the top of the horses' backs, so that they might be as little exposed to the water as possible; and the horses, being then tied in a line one behind the other, all reached the opposite shore in safety, though the smaller ones were compelled to swim. A foal, which was tied by the neck to the tail of its mother, was dragged through, and landed on the other side of the river, more dead than alive, through fear and cold. Our party followed, and was equally fortunate in getting over without any accident (except the wetting of the luggage and ourselves,) though the water reached to the middle of the body of our tallest horses. Here, after procuring us some milk from a cottage close by, the priest took his leave of us. In the vicinity of the house were two or three boiling springs which were used by the inhabitants for the purpose of cooking, as well as for that of washing their clothes. At a few miles distance, on our right, we saw a very considerable column of steam, rising from the marshes, at a place which the guides called Reykum ;* and which they said I might visit on my way to Skalholt. Our journey now lay either entirely over a morass, which proved extremely fatiguing to our horses, or upon the edge of it, where a quantity of loose soil had been washed down from the mountains by the torrents, and was scarcely more firm. At about five o'clock in the afternoon we obtained the first view of the mountain, called Laugerfell, from which the Geysers spring. It is of no great elevation, and according to Sir John Stanley, who had an opportunity of ascertaining by admeasurement, rises only three hundred and ten feet above the course of a river which runs at its foot. It is, however, remarkable for its insulated situation; being entirely surrounded by a morass, which extends for a very considerable way in every direction, except towards the north, where it is

This is not the Reykum, or Rykum, which Sir John Stanley has given so full and so admirable an account of: many places are called by this and similar names, derived from the Icelandic word Reik, or Reyk, which signifies smoke; such are Reykholt, Reikevig, Reikholtsdal, Reikanaes, &c.