QUADRUMANA. 



fear as to be incapable of resistance ; that stupidity, sluggishness, and 

 awkwardness are its prominent characters, unmodified during captivity ; 

 and that even its gentleness and submission are rather the result of extreme 

 apathy than confidence ; that all its senses are dull and imperfect, nothing 

 being regarded with interest ; good or bad treatment being alike received 

 with insensibility ; while gratitude and revenge are both alien to its nature ; 

 in short, that its days are passed in lethargic repose, as, seated on its 

 hams, with its long arms twined round it, it buries its head between its 

 legs ; that hunger scarcely rouses it, and its very food is received with 

 indifference. Strangely inconsistent, however, with the foregoing character, 

 is his account of its extreme vigilance and acuteness of hearing; and of the 

 affection of the mothers for their young : If a young one be wounded, the 

 mother, who either carries it, or follows it closely, remains with it, utters 

 the most lamentable cries, and rushes upon the enemy with open mouth 

 and extended arms ; but, being unfitted for combat, knows neither how to 

 deal nor shun a blow. It is not only in moments of danger that this affec- 

 tion is displayed. " It is," says Duvaucel, " a curious and interesting 

 spectacle, which a little precaution has sometimes enabled me to witness, 

 to see the females carry their young ones to the water, and there wash 

 their faces, in spite of their childish outcries, bestowing a degree of time 

 and care upon their cleanliness, which, in many cases, the children of our 

 own species might envy." He also relates, that, according to the Malays, 

 the young are nursed and carried respectively by adults of their own sex ; 

 and, also, that the Siamang frequently becomes the prey of the Tiger, under 

 the influence of that sort of fascination which Snakes are said to exercise 

 over birds, Squirrels, and other small animals. 



Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who kept several individuals of this 

 species in captivity, describes the Siamang as bold and powerful, but easily 

 domesticated; gentle, and so confident and sociable, as to be "never happy 

 but when allowed to be in company with some one." 



The interesting account of an individual, by Mr. George Bennett, to 

 which reference has been previously made, gives us a still more favourable 

 impression of the disposition and intelligence of the animal. The substance 

 of his narrative is as follows. The individual in question, a male, was pro- 

 cured at Singapore, 1830, having been brought to that place by a Malay 

 lad, in a proa, from the Menangkabau country, in the interior of Sumatra. 

 He was young, only two feet four inches in height, and covered with beau- 

 tiful jet black, coarse hair. The form of the feet and hands gave them great 

 prehensile power ; but he was not able to take up small objects with 

 facility, on account of the disproportion of the size of the thumb to the 

 fingers. The metacarpal bone of the thumb had the mobility of a first 

 joint.* His common position, when at rest, was squatting, with his arms 



* It has been already said, that it wants the power of antagonizing with the fingers. 



