" MR. PONGO."

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 271, 15 November 1877, Page 4

" MR. PONGO."

[From the Melbourne Telegraph.] Darwin's theory of evolution ia juat now attracting more attention than usual in England, in consequence of the advent of "Mr Pongo," the Berlin gorilla. This remarkable creature is the first of his kind which has ever reached Europe alive, and as his ways are in many respects peculiarly human, it is not to be wondered at that he should have occasioned much curiosity. Mr Pongo is scarcely four years old and has Dot yet entered on the period of teething; but be ia sot more than three feet high, and has already muscles of extraordinary rigidity and firmness. With; regard., to hia habits, we learn from the London newspapers that he lives principally upon farinaceous food and fruits, bat can "eat beefsteak, drink beer, and smoke, after tha American fashion, puffing the smoke out sgaia through his nostrils." Hia habits in this particular appear to be quite up to the standard of our fastest colonial youths, and if, amongst his other accomplishments, he could only swear, there would bo good reason to believe that the " missing link " had at length been discovered. Bat unfortunately for the Darwinian hypothesis, the intelligence of the gorilla, like that of tha magpie, is limited to imitation. He applauds humor by beating a stick on the floor, or clapping his hands ; aad when he tries to write, the pencil goes at once to his mouth, but the writing is a failure.. Just where the exercise of a little reason is required, Mr Pongo, is a hopeless lunatic, and, worse than that, he has hot' been gifted with the power of speech, even to the most limited extent. The lowest of human beings ia the universe have a language which may be easily acquired,"' but the gorilla, like other monkeys of a lower order, jabbers with as much meaning as a hen cackles, and no more. Supposing men to be the lineal descendants of the gorilla, " the most difficult thing to conceive about him " says a London contemporary, "is why his coat should have ever fallen off. Under what circumstances could a gorilla without a hairy skin be better fitted for survival than a gorilla with one? Surely he would be leas fitted. That the strength of the gorilla-man should decline as his brain grew wider and devised substitutes for strength, is conceivable, but why should his coat fall off ?'" It nvlght be replied to this that the coat would decline in the same way as the strength when the brain grew wider and devised substitutes, but this is only answering one fallacy with another. There is no evidence of the expanded brain in the gorilla. On the contrary, he has less intelligence than the sheep-dog, and if he possesses any ideas at all, he is as helpless to express them as that domesticated animal the mule. When Mr Pongo has advanced another stage, and is competent to read the newspapers, and quote the price of stock, or even to enjoy a game of euchre along with his pipe and beer, we may be more inclined to extend to him the right hand of fellowship, and regard him as the long lost " link " but, in the meantime, he must be content to trace his genealogy back to the quadrutnana of Borneo and Sumatra.