168 



APE. 



the hobbling of a lame man whom fear compels to 

 make an extraordinary effort. 



" However numerous the troop may be, if one is 

 wounded it is immediately abandoned by the rest, 

 unless, indeed, it happen to be a young one ; then 

 the mother, who either carries it or follows close 

 behind, stops and falls with it, and uttering the most 

 frightful cries, precipitates herself upon the common 

 enemy with open mouth and arms extended. But 

 it is manifest that these animals are not made for 

 combat; they neither know how to deal nor to shun 

 a blow. Nor is their maternal affection displayed 

 only in moments of danger: the care which the 

 females bestow upon their offspring is so tender, and 

 even refined, that one would be almost tempted to 

 attribute the sentiment to a rational rather than an 

 intuitive process. It is a curious and interesting 

 spectacle, which a little precaution has sometimes, 

 enabled me to witness, to see these females carry their 

 young to the river, wash their faces in spite of their 

 outcries, wipe and dry them, and altogether bestow 

 upon their cleanliness a time and attention that in 

 many cases the children of our own species might 

 well envy. The Malays related a fact to me, which 

 I doubted at first but which I believe to be in a 

 great measure confirmed by my own subsequent 

 observations : it is that the young siamangs, whilst 

 yet too weak to go alone, are always carried by 

 individuals of their own sex, by their fathers if they 

 are males, and by their mothers if females. I have 

 also been assured that these animals frequently be- 

 come the prey of the tiger from the same species of 

 fascination which serpents. are related to exercise 

 over birds, squirrels, and other small animals. 



" Servitude, however long, seems to have no effect 

 in modifying the characteristic defects of this ape : 

 his stupidity, his sluggishness, and his awkwardness. 

 It is true that a few days suffice to make him as 

 gentle and contented as he was before wild and 

 distrustful ; but, constitutionally timid, he never 

 acquires the familiarity of other apes, and even his 

 submission appears to be rather the result of extreme 

 apathy than of any degree of confidence or affection. 

 He is almost equally insensible to good or bad treat- 

 ment ; gratitude and revenge are sentiments equally 

 strange to him. All his senses are dull and imper- 

 fect ; if he regards an object, it is manifestly without 

 any intention if he touches it, it is involuntarily. 

 In a word, the siamang exhibits an absence of all 

 intellectual faculty ; and if animals were to be classed 

 according to their mental capacities, he would cer- 

 tainly occupy a very inferior station. Most com- 

 monly squatted on his hams, with his long arms 

 twined round him, and his head concealed between 

 his legs, a position which he also occupies whilst 

 sleeping, he is seldom roused from his lethargy, nor 

 does he break silence unless at intervals to utter a 

 disagreeable cry, which in sound approaches to that 

 of a turkey-cock, but which appears to be expressive 

 of no sentiment, nor to declare any want, and which 

 in reality expresses, nothing: hunger itself is insuffi- 

 cient to excite, or divest him of his natural lethargy ; 

 he takes his food with indifference, carries it to his 

 rnouth without avidity, and sees himself deprived of 

 it without testifying either surprise or resentment." 



Perhaps this statement is, in some of the points, a 

 little coloured ; but there is an air of graphic truth 

 about it which leaves no doubt of its being accurate 

 in the main ; and, altogether, it is perhaps the best 



account of any of the genus in a state of nature 

 which has hitherto appeared. The sluggish motions 

 and passive character of these animals no doubt 

 render them much more easily observed than their 

 more energetic congeners ; and probably the same 

 circumstances cause them to appear more numerous 

 than they are. Their more social disposition with 

 each other, no doubt, also renders them more easily 

 tamed. 



Their appearance accords well with their habits, 

 as described by M. Duvaucelle. None of the genus 

 are handsome ; but these are peculiarly clumsy and 

 ungainly. The forehead is low, and partly covered 

 by the hair of the crown, which is reflected forward 

 upon it ; and the same long hair descends by the sides 

 of the head, and hides the ears. The eyes are shaded 

 under projecting brows, and they are remarkably 

 close together, a circumstance which never fails in 

 giving a mean and ape-like expression to the human 

 countenance, more especially if it is, as in these 

 animals, accompanied by flatness of the nose, lateral, 

 and rather upward, opening of the nostrils, a long 

 upper lip, and great width of gape in the mouth. 

 The uncouth expression of the face is increased by 

 a greasy pouch or sac, under the lower jaw, bearing 

 a considerable resemblance to that in the orang-utan, 

 but rather larger in proportion to the size of the 

 animal. What other purposes these distendable 

 pouches may serve in the economy of the animals 

 which possess them is not known ; but in the siamang 

 they are brought into action when the animal howls. 

 The pouch completely hides the chin, or rather there 

 is no chin to be hidden, as the lower jaw is rounded 

 away from the gape, as in the carnivorous animals, 

 and the gape, which is a mere line when closed, 

 opens backward, nearly the whole length of the 

 jaws. The face is farther deformed by high cheek 

 bones; its colour is black; its texture like that of 

 the naked part of a dog's nose ; and it is destitute of 

 hair, except a very few straggling red ones, at the 

 upper and under part. The hair on the body is 

 rather long, thick and close, and generally of a black 

 colour. The body is clumsy ; the hind legs, out of 

 proportion, small ; and the fore ones, though long, 

 are ill put together. One peculiarity of the hinder 

 paws is the adhesion of the first and second fingers, 

 as fur as the last joint, or that which bears the nail. 

 It is on this account that it has received the specific 

 name* of syndactylus, which means, one toe " with," 

 that is, " united with" another. The siamang is infe- 

 rior in size to the orang-utan ; but it is the largest of 

 the gibbons. 



The Wouwou, or nimble gibbon (P. agi/is), is a 

 smaller but far more active species. It inhabits the 

 same forests, but is much less frequently seen. The 

 height of the full-grown male does not exceed two 

 feet eight ; and the female is shorter. The arms are 

 long, easily reaching the ground when the animal 

 stands erect. The fingers on the fore-feet are long 

 and clean made, but the thumbs are very short. 

 The thumbs on the hind feet are longer in propor- 

 tion, and act more directly in opposition to the 

 fingers, than those of any other of the genus. From 

 the structure of the extremities, and the lightness of 

 its body, as well as of the ready and willing use to 

 which it appears to put its powers upon all occa- 

 sions, the wouwou well deserves the trivial name 

 of figilis; for it .skips up the trees, and from one tree 

 to another, more like a winged creature than one 



