420 HISTORY OF 



feet high. It walks erect, is without a tail, has a face resembling 

 that of a man, with a circle of bushy hair all round the visage ; its 

 eyes are large, and sunk in its head ; its face tanned, and its ears 

 exactly proportioned. But that m which it chiefly diflfers from 

 all others of the monkey tribe, is the extraordinary length of its 

 arms, which when the animal stands erect are long enough to 

 reach the ground ; so that it can walk upon all-fours, and yet 



These animals are very common in Sumatra. They are generally found 

 assembled in large troops, conducted, as it is said, by a chief, whom the 

 Malays believe to be invulnerable. Thus assembled at sunrise and again at 

 Bunset, they vie with each other in making the most dreadful cries, perfect- 

 ly stunning to those accustomed to them, and frightful in the highest degree 

 to strangers. Tlieir powers of voice are doubtless increased by the guttural 

 cavity before alluded to, analogous to a similar apparatus found in the howl- 

 ing monkeys of America. At all other times they appear to be perfectly 

 quiet, so long at least as they are undisturbed. Naturally slow and heavy, 

 they seem to want courage for climbing and activity for leaping, so that 

 when suddenly surprised, they may in general be taken with ease ; but na- 

 ture, while she has deprived tliem of the power of avoiding danger by quick- 

 ness and address, has endowed them with a great degree of vigilance for 

 their presers'ation, so that they are generally alive to danger long enough 

 before it reaches them to enable them to effect their retreat. When on the 

 ground, however, they fall an easy prey, overcome by fear and rendered 

 apparently more incapable by conscious weakness ; in this situation their 

 ineffectual efforts to fly display their imperfections, for the body too high 

 and heavy for their short and slender thighs inclines forward, and their dis 

 proportioned arms acting like stilts, enable them to advance only by short 

 and inefficient jumps. 



Another species or variety is the Active Gibbon, which is distinguished 

 from the preceding Gibbon of Sumatra, in which island this also is found, 

 by its greater degree of activity, particularly in a state of nature. It is 

 nearly three feet in height ; the face is naked, of a very dark blue colour, 

 lightly tinted with brown in the female ; the eyes are near each other, and 

 sunken ; and the muzzle is remarkably prominent. The nose is not so flat 

 as that of the Siamang, and the nostrils are large and open laterally. Tlie 

 cliin is furnished with a few black hairs. The ears are nearly hidden by the 

 long hair around them, and there is a white band roimd the upper part of 

 the face. The colour of this species seems to vary in different individuals 

 and sexes, and in the same individual at different periods ; but brown, with 

 various shades, appears the prevailing tint. 



The active Gibbon is not gregarious like the Siamang, but is generally 

 found only with its female. It springs from tree to tree with wonderful 

 agility, and can therefore but seldom be taken alive. In captivity, however, 

 it exhibits little or nothing of its active powers, and though much more 

 lively than the Siamang, is less so than the monkeys in general. Not given 

 to the exciteless apathy of the Siamang, it may be frightened and quieted 

 sgain : it avoids danger, and courts caresses : is a considerable glutton, 

 curious familiar, and sometimes even gay. 



