His mode of equipping the party as ourang-outangs was very simple,
but effective enough for his purposes. The animals in question had, at
the epoch of my story, very rarely been seen in any part of the
civilized world; and as the imitations made by the dwarf were
sufficiently beast-like and more than sufficiently hideous, their
truthfulness to nature was thus thought to be secured.
The king and his ministers were first encased in tight-fitting
stockinet shirts and drawers. They were then saturated with tar. At
this stage of the process, some one of the party suggested feathers;
but the suggestion was at once overruled by the dwarf, who soon
convinced the eight, by ocular demonstration, that the hair of such
a brute as the ourang-outang was much more efficiently represented
by flu. A thick coating of the latter was accordingly plastered upon
the coating of tar. A long chain was now procured. First, it was
passed about the waist of the king, and tied, then about another of
the party, and also tied; then about all successively, in the same
manner. When this chaining arrangement was complete, and the party
stood as far apart from each other as possible, they formed a
circle; and to make all things appear natural, Hop-Frog passed the
residue of the chain in two diameters, at right angles, across the
circle, after the fashion adopted, at the present day, by those who
capture Chimpanzees, or other large apes, in Borneo.
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