JN SUMATBA. 129 



-I 



without seeing a blossom gay enough to attract admiration ; 

 far oftener I have stopped to pluck a gorgeous fruit A vast 

 amount of tropical vegetation lias small inconspicuous ilowcrs 

 of a more or less green colour, so that when tliey do occur 

 the eye fails to detect them readily. The fresh green, the 

 rich pink, and even scarlet of the opening leaves are beautiful 

 beyond description, and the autumn-tinted foliage never ceases 

 through all the seasons, and with so much colour one is quite 

 content to forget the absence of flowers. 



On the passing traveller, therefore, the vegetation at the lower 

 elevations leaves the impression of a tangled heterogeneous 

 mass of foliage of every shape and shade mingled together in 

 such unutterable confusion, tliat not one single plant stands 

 out in nnytliing like its own iiulividuality on his mind. 



Every now and then a curve of the road brought mo on a 

 colony of Siamang apes {Siainanga syndadijla)^ some of them 

 hano-inp: bv one arm to a dead branch of a hi;2:h-fruitin<; tree 

 with eighty unobstructed feet between tlicm and the ground, 

 makinij the M'oods resound Mith their loud barkin;; liowls. 

 The Siamang comes next in size to the Orang-utan, which is 

 the largest of the great apes living in this part of tlio world, 

 and which is found elsewhere only in the Malacca peninsula, 

 the Orang-utan being confined to Sumatra and Borneo. 



The Siamang is a very powerful animal when full grown, 

 and has long jet-black glancing hair. In height it stands 

 little over three feet three or four inches, but the stretch 

 of its arms across the chest measures no less than five feet 

 five to six inches, endowing it with a great power of rapid 

 progression among the branches of the trees. Its singular 

 cry is produced by its inflating, through a valve from the 

 windpipe, a large sac extending to its lips and chucks, situated 

 •below the skin of the throat, then suddenly expelling the 

 enclosed air in greater or less jets, so as to produce the singular 



modulations of its voice. 



Gedong-tctahan proved a very unfavourable hunting 

 ground, as it was surrounded by unprofitable alang-alang 

 fields. Nevertlieiess, I obtained some interesting birds. 

 Among them I secured the crested bee-eater {Nydiornis 

 omtcta), a beautiful creature with rose-coloured head and a 

 throat of a rich shade of vermilion, which preferred the oncn 



