COLLECTING AROUND SIM U JAN. 383 



— except that he would not touch beer, wine nor spirits. He lived 

 and died a teetotaler. 



The Old Man soon grew fat and mischievous, and always did 

 his best to amuse me. Many an absurd childish game we 

 played upon the floor ia highly undignified fashion. One of his 

 favorite tricks was to seize my hand suddenly, draw it to his mouth, 

 and make a feint of giving it a terrible bite. But he always knew 

 that he must bite gently, which is more than can be said of any 

 human infant I ever experimented ■s\-ith. Often he would entertain 

 me for half an hour by making the most comically wry faces, for 

 which his broad, india-rubber hps were specially adapted. He 

 was also a great contortionist, and, having no ligamentum teres, the 

 freedom with which he used his legs was at fii'st quite surprising. 



When at Simujan I slept in a tall and wide " foiu'-poster," and 

 the little fellow was always anxious to sleep with me. Whenever I 

 permitted him to do so, his happiness was complete. His favorite 

 position was to lie sprawling upon my chest, affectionately clasp- 

 ing my body with his outstretched arms and legs, with his head on 

 my shoulder and his face close to my neck. Being as clean and 

 wholesome as any human being, and ^vithout any odor of tobacco 

 or hquor on his breath, he made a very agreeable bed-fellow until 

 he got into the habit of snoring and sneezing so much as to disturb 

 my slumbers, when it became necessaiy for him to sleep by him- 

 self. Meanwhile, I watched him closely, and did everything I could 

 think of to arouse his mind to action, and stimulate it to act in 

 different directions. 



About this time I had another very interesting anthi'opoid pet, 

 a young gibbon, which I purchased at a Dyak village. Instead of 

 hobbling along like the little orang, which used its anns as if they 

 were crutches, it would stand perfectly erect, pai'tially extend its 

 long, thin arms out sideways to balance himself, and walk across 

 the floor with brisk confidence. When in good health it was quite 

 friendly, and even affectionate, but in spite of my efforis to prolong 

 its Hfe it soon sickened and died. 



On September 27th, a bore again came up the river, and on the 

 dav following the tide rose to an unusual height, about fourteen feet, 

 covering every speck of land in the kampong, so that the Malays 

 paddled from house to house in their sampans, and Ah Kee had 

 to wade knee deep in water to get my dinner from the cook- 

 house to the table. It was like a Mississippi freshet, except that it 

 departed as suddenly as it came. 



