tremendous leaps from the branches of one tree to those of
another a little lower, and it is very amusing when one
strong leader takes a bold jump, to see the others following
with more or less trepidation; and it often happens that
one or two of the last seem quite unable to make up their
minds to leap till the rest are disappearing, when, as if in
desperation at being left alone, they throw themselves
frantically into the air, and often go crashing through the
slender branches and fall to the ground.
A very curious ape, the Siamang, was also rather abundant,
but it is much less bold than the monkeys, keeping to the
virgin forests and avoiding villages. This species is allied to
the little long-armed apes of the genus Hylobates, but is
considerably larger, and differs from them by having the two
first fingers of the feet united together, nearly to the end,
whence its Latin name, Siamanga syndactyla. I t moves
much more slowly than the active Hylobates, keeping
lower down in trees, and not indulging in such tremendous
leaps; but it is still very active, and by means of its immense
long arms, five feet six inches across in an adult
about three feet high, can swing itself along among the
trees at a great rate. I purchased a small one, which had
been caught by the natives and tied up so tightly as to
hurt it. I t was rather savage at first, and tried to bite; but
when we had released it and given it two poles under the
verandah to hang upon, securing it by a short cord,
running along the pole with a ring, so that it could move
easily, it became more contented, and would swing itself
about with great rapidity. It ate almost any kind of fruit
and rice, and I was in hopes to have brought it to England,
but it died just before I started. I t took a dislike to me
at first, which I tried to get over by feeding it constantly
myself. One day, however, it bit me so sharply while giving
it food, that I lost patience and gave it rather a severe
beating, which I regretted afterwards, as from that time it
disliked me more than ever. It would allow my Malay
boys to play with it, and for hours together would swing
by its arms from pole to pole and on to the rafters of the
verandah, with so much ease and rapidity, that it was a
constant source of amusement to us. When I returned to
Singapore it attracted great attention, as no one had seen
a Siamang alive before, although it is not uncommon in
some parts of the Malay peninsula.
As the Orang-utan is known to inhabit Sumatra, and
was in fact first discovered there, I made many inquiries
about it; but none of the natives had ever heard of such an
animal, nor could I find any of the Dutch officials who
knew anything about it. We may conclude, therefore, that
it does not inhabit the great forest plains in the east of
Sumatra where one would naturally expect to find it, but
is probably confined to a limited region in the north-west—
a part of the island entirely in the hands of native rulers.
VOL. I . p