36 THE MAX-LIKE APES. i 



his life by even a short visit to the malarious shores 

 of those regions may well be excused if he shrinks 

 from facing the dangers of the interior; if he con- 

 tents himself with stimulating the industry of the 

 better seasoned natives, and collecting and collat- 

 ing the more or less mythical reports and traditions 

 with which they are too ready to supply him. 



In such a manner most of the earlier accounts 

 of the habits of the man-like Apes originated; 

 and even now a good deal of what passes current 

 must be admitted to have no very safe foundation. 

 The best information we possess is that, based 

 almost wholly on direct European testimony, re- 

 specting the Gibbons; the next best evidence re- 

 lates to the Orangs; while our knowledge of the 

 habits of the Chimpanzee and the Gorilla stands 

 much in need of support and enlargement by ad- 

 ditional testimony from instructed European eye- 

 witnesses. 



It will therefore be convenient in endeavour- 

 ing to form a notion of what we are justified in 

 believing about these animals, to commence with 

 the best known man-like Apes, the Gibbons and 

 Orangs; and to make use of the perfectly trust- 

 worthy information respecting them as a sort of 

 criterion of the probable truth or falsehood of 

 assertions respecting the others. 



Of the Gibbons, half a dozen species are found 

 scattered over the Asiatic islands, Java, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, and through Malacca, Siam, Arracan, 



