Curious Creatures in Zoology. Ashton John
considered to be the children of those by whom each virgin was first espoused.”
Hairy Men
If, as we may conjecture from the above, the ancient Briton was “a rugged man, o’ergrown with hair,” his full-dress toilette must have occupied some time. But extreme hairiness in human beings is by no means singular, and very many cases are recorded in medical books. Many of us may remember the Spanish dancer, Julia Pastrana, whose whole body was hairy, and who had a fine beard. She had a child on whom the hair began to grow, like its mother; and, but a few years back, there was a hairy family exhibited in London – their faces being covered with hair, as is the case of the Puella pilosa, or Hairy Girl – given by Aldrovandus in his Monstrorum Historia.
She was aged twelve years, and came from the Canary Isles, together with her father (aged 40), her brother (20), and her sister (8), all as hairy one as the other. They were brought over by Marius Casalius, and first shown at Bologna, so that this is no doubt a faithful likeness, as Aldrovandus lived and died in that city. He gives other examples, but not so well authenticated as this.
There were two wonderful hairy people at Ava, in Burmah, who are described by two most trustworthy eye-witnesses, John Crawford, in his “Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava” – and in 1855, by Captain Henry Youle, in his “Narrative of the Mission sent by the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava.” They were father and daughter, respectively named Shu-Maon, and Maphoon. The father may strictly be said to have had neither eyelashes, eyebrows, nor beard, because the whole of his face, including the interior and exterior of his ears, were covered with long silky silvery grey hair. His whole body, except his hands and feet, was covered with hair of the same texture and colour as that now described, but generally less abundant; it was most plentiful over the spine and shoulders, where it was five inches long; over the breast, about four inches, and was most scanty on the arms, legs, thighs, and abdomen.
Of the daughter, Captain Youle writes: “The whole of Maphoon’s face was more or less covered with hair. On a part of the cheek, and between the nose and mouth, this was confined to a short down, but over all the rest of the face was a thick silky hair of a brown colour, paleing about the nose and chin, four or five inches long. At the alæ of the nose, under the eye, and on the cheek bone this was very fully developed; but it was in, and on, the ear, that it was most extraordinary. Except the upper tip, no part of the ear was visible. All the rest was filled and veiled with a large mass of silky hair, growing apparently out of every part of the external organ, and hanging a pendant lock to a length of eight or ten inches. The hair over her forehead was brushed so as to blend with the hair of the head, the latter being dressed (as usual with her countrywomen) à la Chinoise; it was not so thick as to conceal her forehead.
“The nose, densely covered with hair, as no animal’s is, that I know of, and with long locks curving out, and pendant like the wisps of a fine Skye-terrier’s coat, had a most strange appearance. The beard was pale in colour, and about four inches in length, seemingly very soft and silky.”
Maphoon, when Captain Youle saw her, had two children, one, the eldest, perfectly normal, the other, who was very young, was evidently taking after its mother.
The Aïnos, an aboriginal tribe in the north of Japan, who are looked down upon by the Japanese as dogs, have always been reputed as being covered with hair. Mr. W. Martin Wood read a paper before the Ethnological Society of London25 respecting them, and he said, “Esau himself could not have been a more hairy man than are these Aïnos. The hair forms an enormous bush, and it is thick and matted. Their beards are very thick and long, and the greater part of their face is covered with hair which is generally dark in colour; they have prominent foreheads, and mild, dark eyes, which somewhat relieve the savage aspect of their visage. Their hands and arms, and, indeed, the greater part of their bodies, are covered with an abnormal profusion of hair.”
This, however, has been questioned, notably by Mr. Barnard Davis, whose paper may be read in the 3rd vol. of the “Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London” – and he quotes from several travellers, to prove that the hairyness of the Aïnos had been exaggerated. However, Miss Bird in her “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan” may fairly be said to have put the subject at rest, for she visited, and travelled in the Aïno country. She, certainly, disproves the theory that, as a race, they were hairy, although she confesses that some were – as, for instance (p. 232), “They wore no clothing, but only one was hairy,” and, writing from Biratori, Yezo (p. 255), she says, “The men are about the middle height, broad-chested, broad-shouldered, thick set, very strongly built, the arms and legs short, thick, and muscular, the hands and feet large. The bodies, and especially the limbs of many, are covered with short, bristly hair. I have seen two boys whose backs are covered with fur as fine, and soft, as that of a cat.” Again (p. 283), “The profusion of black hair, and a curious intensity about their eyes, coupled with the hairy limbs and singularly vigorous physique, give them a formidably savage appearance; but the smile, full of ‘sweetness and light,’ in which both eyes and mouth bear part, and the low, musical voice, softer and sweeter than anything I have previously heard, make me, at times, forget that they are savages at all.”
The Ouran Outan
Transition from hirsute humanity to the apes, is easy, and natural – and we need only deal with the Simiinæ, which includes the Orang, the Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla. These are the largest apes, and nearest approach to man – but, although they may be tailless, yet there is that short great toe which prevents any acceptation of their humanity. The orang is exclusively an inhabitant of Borneo and Sumatra, and in those two islands it may be found in the swampy forests near the coast. It grows to a large size, for an ape, about four feet four inches high, but is neither so large, nor so strong, as the Gorilla. Compared with man, its arms seem to be as extravagantly long, as its legs are ridiculously short. When wild, it feeds entirely on vegetable diet, and makes a kind of house, or nest, in trees, interweaving the branches, so as to obtain shelter. They do not stand confinement well, being languid and miserable – but, in their native wildness, they can, if necessity arises, fight well in their own defence. A. R. Wallace, in his “Malay Archipelago; the Land of the Orang Utan and the Bird of Paradise,” tells the following story of its combativeness.
“A few miles down the river there is a Dyak house, and the inhabitants saw a large orang feeding on the young shoots of a palm by the river side. On being alarmed, he retreated towards the jungle, which was close by, and a number of the men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept him. The man who was in front, tried to run his spear through the animal’s body, but the orang seized it in his hands, and in an instant got hold of the man’s arm, which he seized in his mouth, making his teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated in a dreadful manner. Had not the others been close behind, the man would have been seriously injured, if not killed, as he was quite powerless; but they soon destroyed the creature with their spears and choppers. The man remained ill for a long time, and never fully recovered the use of his arm.”
It is called the Simia Satyrus; probably on its presumed lustfulness, certainly not on account of its resemblance to the satyr of antiquity.
Gesner gives us his idea of the orang, presenting us with the accompanying figure of the Cercopithecus, and quotes Cardanus as saying that the Cercopithecus or Wild-man, is singularly made, having the height and form of a man, with legs like man’s – and is covered all over with hair. No animal can withstand it, with the exception of man, to whom, when in its own regions, it is not inferior. It loves boys and women.
Pliny speaks of the Satyr Ape thus: “Among the mountainous districts of the eastern parts of India, in what is called the country of the Catharcludi, we find the Satyr, an animal of extraordinary swiftness. They go sometimes on four feet, and sometimes walk erect; they have, also, the features of a human being. On account of their swiftness, these creatures are never to be caught, except when they are aged, or sickly,” and, in another place, he says, “The Sphyngium and the Satyr stow away food in the pouches of their cheeks, after which they will take out piece by piece in their hands, and eat it.”
Topsell has mixed up the Simia Satyrus with the classical satyr, having legs and
Transactions of the Ethnological Society, 1866, vol. iv., p. 34.