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KRAO THE MISSING LINK.

The following interesting description of the extraordinary animal found in further India, i« taken from tho scientific public ntion, Nature j — Tln-out;li the courtesy of Mr Farini, I luivo had a private interview with this curious little waif which lie ia now exhibiting at the Royal Aquarium, Westminister, and for which lie claims the distinction of being the long-souglit-fot" missing link between ln.in and tlie Antlnopoid apes. Kiao certainly presents some tibiioini.il peculantie*, but they ate scaieely ot a sufficiently pionouuced tjpc to justify the claim. She is, in taut, ;i distinctly human child, appaicntly about smen years old, endoweil with an aveiage share of intelligence, and possessing the faculty of articulate speech. Since hei anival, about 10 weeks ago, in London, she lias acquit ed several English words, which she uses intelligently, and not meiely parrot-fashion, as has been stated. Thus on my suddenly producing my watch at the interview, she was attracted by the glitter, and eiierl out, " Cock, cock !'' — that is, "Clock, clock!"' This showed considerable powci of geneiahsation, accompanied by a somewliat defective articulation, and" it appears that her phonetic system does not yet embi ace the liquids 1 and v. But in this and other respects her education is piogiessing favoiably, and she has already .so far adapted herself to civili/ed ways that the meie threat to send her b»ck to her own people is always sufficient to suppress any symptoms of uiu uly conduct. Physically Krao presents several peculiar features. The head and low forehead aie coveied down to the bushy eyebiows with a deep black, lank, and lutieless hair, characteristic of the Mongoloid races. The whole body is also o\ei grown with a far less dense coating of a soft black hair, about a quaitcr ot an inch long, but noV heie close enough to conceal the colour of the skin, which may bcdeooiihcd as of a daik olnc biowu shade. The nose is e\tiemely shoit and low, with e\cc--sively broad nostnls, nieiging in the full, pouched checKs, mto winch she appeals to 'lave the habit of stutling her tood, monkey fashion. Like those of the anthropoids, her feet .11 c also prehensile, and the hands so flexible that they bend quite back o\er the wnsts. The thumb also doubles completely back, and the top joints bend at pleasuies independently inwaids. Prognatlnsm seems to be very slightly de\ eloped, and the beautiful round black eyed arc very large and perfect hoiuontal. Hence tin* expicssion is on the whole far fiom unpleasing, and not nearly so ape-like as that ot many Negrisoa, ami especially of Javanese " AnU."But it should bcinentioned that, when in a pet, Kiao's lips were said to protrude as far as to give her " quite a chimpanzee look." Apart from her history one might feel disposed to regard this specimen meiely as a "spoit," or lusus natuisu, possessed rather a pathological than of a strictly anthtopological interest Ceitainly, isolated eases of liaiiy petsons, and even ot li.iiry families, are not unknown to science. Se\eral were figuiod in a iceent number of the Berlin ZvUtithuft fur lilhiiolnyic, and if I remember both Crawfoid (" Journal of an Embassy to Ay.'i,") and Colonel Yule " Mission to fhe (Joint of Ava,") speak of a hairy family resident for two or three goneiations at the Bui mese capital. This family is leported to have originally come from the interior of the Lao countiy, and in the same region we aie now told that little Kiao and her patents, also hairy people, weie found last year by the Well-known Eastern explorer, Mr Carl Bock. Soon after their capture, the father appears to have died of cholera, M'hile the mother was detained at Bangkok by the Siamese Government, so that Kiao alone could be brought to EnglandBut before his death, a photograph of the father was taken by Mr Bock, who describes him as " completely covered with a thick hairy coat, exactly like that of the antlnopoid apes. On his face, not only had he a heavy bushy beard and whiskers, similar in evei y respect to the hairy family at the court of the King of Burmah, who also came from the same region as that in which Krao and her father were found ; but every part -was thoroughly enveloped in hair. The long arms and rounded stomach aho proclaimed his close alliance to the monkey form, while his power of speech and intelligence were so far developed that before his death he was able utter a few words in Malay." Assuming tho accuiacy of these statements, and ot this description, little Krao, of course, at once acquires exceptional scientific importance. She would, at all events, be a living proof of the presence of a hairy race in Further Indian, a region at present occupied by almost hairless Mongoloid peoples. From these races the large straight eyes would also detach the Krao type, and point to a possible connection with hairy straighteyed Amo tribes still surviving into Yesso and Sakhalin, and formerly widely diffused over Japan and the opposite mainland.

Life in TiiKßasu— Then t axl> Now.— It is fjriierally supposed lh.it in the bush wo h.ive to put) up with many discomforts and pri\anons in the shape of food Formerly it was so, but now, thanks to T. H. Him, who has himself Welt in the busli, if food does consist chiefly of tln> ed meats bis Colonial Sal-ck {fives to them amo> ,i e lcctablefl4\our, m.ikinp them .-is \w)\ as the pl«ine^t food mo«t or jovnblc, and instead of hard bis- u its and indigestible damper his Iftipkovkd CoiovtAL JUkino Powoi'K makes ihp very best bread, scones, rakes, and pastry far •uperior and wore wholesome than yeast or l^iupn, Sold by all storekeepers who can Ob?' fain it from «ny nujrgUant in Auckland.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18830628.2.20

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1713, 28 June 1883, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
972

KRAO THE MISSING LINK. Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1713, 28 June 1883, Page 4

KRAO THE MISSING LINK. Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1713, 28 June 1883, Page 4

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