We lay eight weeks in the river Gaboon, where he had plenty of
excellent food, but was never suffered to leave his cage, on account of
the deck being always filled with black strangers, to whom he had a
very decided aversion, although he was perfectly reconciled to white
people. His indignation, however, was constantly excited by the pigs,
when they were suffered to run past his cage; and the sight of one of
the monkeys put him in a complete fury. While at anchor in the
before-mentioned river, an orang-outang (Símia Sátyrus) was brought for
sale, and lived three days on board; and I shall never forget the
uncontrollable rage of the one, or the agony of the other, at this
meeting. The orang was about three feet high, and very powerful in
proportion to his size; so that when he fled with extraordinary
rapidity from the panther to the further end of the deck, neither men
nor things remained upright when they opposed his progress: there he
took refuge in a sail, and although generally obedient to the voice of
his master, force was necessary to make him quit the shelter of its
folds. As to the panther, his back rose in an arch, his tail was
elevated and perfectly stiff, his eyes flashed, and, as he howled, he
showed his huge teeth; then, as if forgetting the bars before him, he
tried to spring on the orang, to tear him to atoms. It was long before
he recovered his tranquillity; day and night he appeared to be on the
listen; and the approach of a large monkey we had on board, or the
intrusion of a black man, brought a return of his agitation.

We at length sailed for England, with an ample supply of provisions;
but, unhappily, we were boarded by pirates during the voyage, and
nearly reduced to starvation. My panther must have perished had it not
been for a collection of more than three hundred parrots, with which we
sailed from the river, and which died very fast while we were in the