2 50 THE MONKEY TRIBES 



and surly, and showing a disinclination to be handled much, although 

 so far as it has been observed this character appears t(j be exceptional. 

 These large apes do not generally go in troops ; a few individuals only 

 being found together. The old males are more savage than the females 

 and resist all attempts to capture them by biting severely, and also by 

 dealing heavy blows with their powerful arms. They move rapidly, 

 though awkwardly, over the ground, going on fours and w^alking on 

 the knuckles of their front hands, the hind ones being open and placed 

 flat down like a foot. The females carry their young upon their l)acks 

 or else clinging to their breast, their long fur enabling the little ones 

 to hold on with a more tenacious grip, so as to make it almost impos- 

 sible to tear them away even after the dam has been killed. 



But it is upon the trees that the apes appear to greatest advantage, 

 their long powerful arms enabling them to reach considerable dis- 

 tances, and they swing themselves from branch to branch with such 

 strength and rapidity that it is impossil)le for a man to keep up with 

 them in the forest. They pass the night in the trees; and several 

 species are in the habit, after selecting a fork in the highest part near 

 the trunk, of breaking off good-sized branches, and by laying them 

 across each other in every direction, constructing a rude kind of nest 

 in which they remain until dawn. Usually they fashion one of these 

 every evening, not returning to any particular spot after roaming 

 about all day, but pass the night wherever they ha])pen to be. The 

 large apes are only met with in those districts where the forests are of 

 great extent ; for being accustomed to pass over the trees when their 

 tops interlace, by swinging themselves from branch to branch by 

 means of their long arms, they cannot exist in open countries or where 

 the trees stand widely apart. When passing along some long branch, 

 these animals walk in a semi-erect attitude, steadying themselves at 

 times by placing the knuckles of the hand of one of the long arms upon 

 the bark. When the branches of an adjoining tree are reached they 

 are seized with both hands, but before the animal is willing to trust 

 himself to them he pulls with all his strength, and, satisfied that they 

 i\ ill bear his weight, swings himself in an easy curve into the next 

 tree, and in this way soon traverses a large extent of the forest. 



The grimaces of these animals, and their mode of showing satis- 



