OF THE MAN-LIKE APES 223 



passage, and attained the branch with her other hand ; 

 her aim, both at the bird and at the branch, being as success- 

 ful as if one object only had engaged her attention. It may 

 be added that she instantly bit off the head of the bird, 

 picked its feathers, and then threw it down without attempt- 

 ing to eat it. 



" On another occasion this animal swung herself from 

 a perch, across a passage at least twelve feet wide, against 

 a window which it was thought would be immediately 

 broken : but not so ; to the surprise of all, she caught 

 the narrow framework between the panes with her hand, 

 in an instant attained the proper impetus, and sprang back 

 again to the cage she had left a feat requiring not only 

 great strength, but the nicest precision." 



The Gibbons appear to be naturally very gentle, but 

 there is very good evidence that they will bite severely when 

 irritated a female Hylobates agilis having so severely 

 lacerated one man with her long canines, that he died ; 

 while she had injured others so much that, byway of precau- 

 tion, these formidable teeth had been filed down ; but, if 

 threatened, she would still turn on her keeper. The Gibbons 

 eat insects, but appear generally to avoid animal food. A 

 Siamang, however, was seen by Mr. Bennett to seize and 

 devour greedily a live lizard. They commonly drink by 

 dipping their fingers in the liquid and then licking them. It 

 is asserted that they sleep in a sitting posture. 



Duvaucel affirms that he has seen the females carry their 

 young to the waterside and there wash their faces, in spite 

 of resistance and cries. They are gentle and affectionate 

 in captivity full of tricks and pettishness, like spoiled 

 children, and yet not devoid of a certain conscience, as an 

 anecdote, told by Mr. Bennett (1. c. p. 156), will show. It 

 would appear that his Gibbon had a peculiar inclination for 

 disarranging things in the cabin. Among these articles, 

 a piece of soap would especially attract his notice, and for 

 the removal of this he had been once or twice scolded. " One 

 morning," says Mr. Bennett, " I was writing, the ape being 

 present in the cabin, when casting my eyes towards him, I 

 saw the little fellow taking the soap. I watched him without 

 his perceiving that I did so : and he occasionally would cast 

 a furtive glance towards the place where I sat. I pretended 

 to write ; he, seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, 

 and moved away with it in his paw. When he had walked 



