4 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



and lie on this, hanging to the branches with hands 

 and feet and swinging in the breeze for an hour or so 

 at a time. It is easy now to account for the fact that 

 the Maias makes its sleeping quarters amongst slender 

 branches in the tree-tops ; if the nest were made in the 

 fork of some huge bough the ape would have nothing 

 to grasp when asleep ; moreover, in the lower levels of 

 the tree there would be a dearth of branches suitable 

 for the construction of a sleeping platform, and these 

 would have to be carried from elsewhere. The Maias 

 evidently dislikes sleeping at too great a height above 

 the ground, for the nests are never found in the tops 

 of lofty forest giants, but in trees of quite a moderate 

 size and height, say 30 to 40 feet high. The natives 

 assert that the female Maias, when about to give birth 

 to a young one, makes a very large platform amongst 

 big branches and stays on it for several days ; but I 

 cannot vouch for the truth of this statement. 



The Maias is a very harmless creature as a rule, but 

 it has been known to attack man when enraged. Wallace, 

 in his Malay Archipelago, cites an instance, and more 

 recently there was an account in the Sarawak Gazelle 

 of one of these apes descending from a Durian-tree, 

 where it was feasting on the fruit, and making a furious 

 onslaught on a Dayak who was trying to drive it away 

 from its plunder. As the Maias is endowed with 

 colossal strength, the unfortunate native was seriously 

 injured, and would have been killed if his friends had 

 not come to the rescue and beaten off his assailant. 



As a pet a young Maias is unrivalled ; it is cleanly, 

 affectionate, extremely intelligent and amusing. One 

 that I kept for some months used to throw itself about 

 and scream like a naughty child if it was teased, and 



