GIBBONS 29

Orangs have been known in captivity in Europe
for over a hundred years. In 1776 there was one
living in the menagerie of the Prince of Orange. All
the captive specimens have impressed their keepers
by their intelligence. Leuret gives a remarkable in-
stance of this. ‘One of the orangs,’ he says, ‘which
recently died at the menagerie, was accustomed, when
the dinner-hour had come, to open the door of the
room where he took his meals in company with
several persons. As he was not sufficiently tall to
reach as high as the key of the door, he hung on to
a rope, balanced himself, and, after a few oscillations,
very quickly reached the key. His keeper, who was
rather worried by so much exactitude, one day took
occasion to make three knots in the rope, which,
having thus been made too short, no longer permitted
the orang to seize the key. The animal, after an in-
effectual attempt, recognising the nature of the obstacle
which opposed his desire, climbed up the rope, placed
himself above the knots, and untied all three. The
same ape wishing to open a door, his keeper gave
_ him a bunch of fifteen keys; the ape tried them in
turn till he found the one he wanted. Another time
a bar of iron was put into his hands, and he made
use of it as a lever” Cuvier, too, had an orang which
used to drag a chair from one end of a room to the
other, in order to stand upon it so as to reach a latch
he desired to open.

The last genus of the Szmdide is that to which
the gibbons belong. These are the only apes, as
already mentioned, who habitually walk upright, and
keep their balance with their arms in any position,