i THE GIBBONS. 37 



and an uncertain extent of Hindostan, on the 

 main land of Asia. The largest attain a few inches 

 above three feet in height, from the crown to the 

 heel, so that they are shorter than the other man- 

 like Apes; while the slenderness of their bodies 

 renders their mass far smaller in proportion even 

 to this diminished height. 



Dr. Salomon M tiller, an accomplished Dutch 

 naturalist, who lived for many years in the East- 

 ern Archipelago, and to the results of whose per- 

 sonal experience I shall frequently have occasion 

 to refer, states that the Gibbons are true moun- 

 taineers, loving the slopes and edges of the hills, 

 though they rarely ascend beyond the limit of the 

 fig-trees. All day long they haunt the tops of the 

 tall trees; and though, towards evening, they 

 descend in small troops to the open ground, 

 no sooner do they spy a man than they dart 

 up the hill-sides, and disappear in the darker 

 valleys. 



All observers testify to the prodigious volume 

 of voice possessed by these animals. According 

 to the writer whom I have just cited, in one of 

 them, the Siamang, " the voice is grave and pene- 

 trating, resembling the sounds goek, goek, goek, 

 goek, goek ha ha ha ha haaaaa, and may easily be 

 heard at a distance of half a league." While the 

 cry is being uttered, the great membranous bag 

 under the throat which communicates with the 

 organ of voice, the so-called " laryngeal sac/' be- 



