HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCE-GO SSI P. 



29 



but to this the monkeys would not accede, and they 

 all cordially united to repel the approaches of the 

 "little man in black," by chattering, and sundry 

 other hostile movements peculiar to their race. 

 Ungka, thus repelled in his endeavours to establish a 

 social intercourse, determined to punish them for their 

 impudence ; when they again united to repel him, by 

 chattering and divers other impudent tricks, he seized 

 a rope, and, swinging towards the nearest, seized his 

 "caudal appendage," and hauled away upon it, until 

 the agility of the monkey obliged him to relinquish 

 his hold. But it not unfrequently happened that he 

 made his way up the rigging, dragging the monkey 

 by the tail after him, and if he required both hands 



Fig. 28. — Ungka Ape in erect position. 



to expedite his ascent, the tail of his captive would be 

 passed into the prehensile power of his foot. These 

 ludicrous scenes were performed by Ungka with the 

 most perfect gravity of countenance ; having no 

 caudal extremity himself, he knew he was free from 

 any retaliation. As this treatment was far from 

 being amusing to the monkeys, they afterwards either 

 avoided him, or made so formidable a defence on his 

 approach, that Ungka was obliged to refrain from 

 indulging himself in "tale-bearing." He had, how- 

 ever, such an inclination to draw out tails, that, being 

 obliged from "peculiar circumstances" to relinquish 

 those of the monkeys, he cultivated the friendship of 

 a little pig that ran about the deck, and, taking his 

 tail in his hand, endeavoured, by frequent pulling, to 

 reduce it from a curled to a straight form ; but all his 

 efforts were in vain ; although piggy did not express 

 any ill-feeling at his kind endeavours. On the din- 



ner being announced by the steward, he invariably 

 entered the cuddy, took his station near the table, 

 and " scraps were thankfully received." If when 

 once at dinner he was laughed at, he vented his 

 indignation at being made the subject of ridicule, 

 by uttering his peculiar hollow barking noise, at the 

 same time inflating the air-sac, and regarding the 

 persons laughing with a most serious look until they 

 had ceased, when he would quietly resume his dinner. 

 He disliked confinement, or being left alone ; when 

 shut up, he would display great ebullition of temper, 

 but would be perfectly quiet when released. At sun- 



Fig. 29. — Ungka Ape in sitting position. 



set when desirous of retiring to rest, he would ap- 

 proach his friends, uttering his peculiar chirping note, 

 beseeching to be taken into their arms : his request 

 once acceded to, any attempt to remove him was 

 followed by violent screams ; he clung still closer to 

 the person in whose arms he was lodged, and it was 

 difficult to remove him until he fell asleep. His 

 tailless appearance, when the back is turned towards 

 the spectator, and his erect posture, gives an appear- 

 ance of a little black hairy man. 



The limbs, from their muscular and strong pre- 

 hensile power, render the animal a fit inhabitant for 

 the forest (fig. 27) ; enabling him to spring from tree 

 to tree with an agility that we have frequently wit- 

 nessed him display about the rigging of the ship ; 



