26 



QuADItUJI^VNA. JIA3IJIALIA. SiMIAD.B. 



rolling at the time ; so admirably can these creatures 

 balance themselvca." He would drink tea, coflfee, and 

 chocolate, but never acquired a taste for wine or 

 spirits ; he was excessively fond of sweet things, and 

 sometimes attempted to lift oOf the lid of the jar in 

 which some cakes were kept; he would eat animal 

 food, especially fowl ; and a lizard having been canght 

 on board was placed before him, when he instantly 

 seized it, and devoured it greedily. This specimen 

 exhibited great attachment to his master, and when 

 first sold to a European owner, made his escape several 

 times, in order to get back to a young Malay who had 

 brouglit him from Sumatra to Singapore. He exhibited 

 considerable activity in chmbing about the rigging of 

 the ship, was greatly irritated when confined or dis- 

 appointed in any wa}', and on passing the Cape, finding 

 the temperature too low to allow of his sleeping on the 

 maintop, as had previously' been liis habit, he showed 

 an eager desire to be taken into his master's arms, and 

 to be permitted to pass the night in the cabin, for 

 which he afterwards evinced such a decided partiality, 

 that, on the ship getting again into warmer latitudes, 

 lie would not resume his old station in the maintop, but 

 showed a strong determination to remain where he 

 found himself so comfortable. We cannot quote 

 farther from the interesting account of Mr. Bennett ; 

 but the preceding statements will be suflicicnt to show 

 that the endowments of this animal are far higher than 

 we should be led to believe from the statements of M. 

 Duvaurel. 



THE AGILE GIBBON (//yoitYto^yiVw-)-— The agile 

 gibbon, which is called Uiigka-puti by the Malays 

 (Unrjlca being apparently a generic name for the 

 gibbons) is, like the siaraang, a native of Sumatra, 

 where it was discovered by M. Duvaucel. It is, how- 

 ever, far less numerous in the forests of that island than 

 the siamangs, and is more frequently met with in pairs 

 than in troops. The colours of the agile gibbon are 

 more variegated than those of the preceding species ; 

 the liead and shoulders, the inside of the arms and legs, 

 and the whole front of the body being of a deep cofl'ee- 

 brown colour ; whilst the occiput, the whole of the back, 

 except the shoulders, and the outside of the thighs are 

 pale brownish-white. The sides of the face are adorned 

 with bushy white whiskers, and a narrow white band 

 runs across the forehead above the eyebrows. 



M. Duvaucel contrasts the agility of thia gibbon 

 with the comparative sluggishness of the siaman^ as 

 described by him ; but it seems probable, from the 

 narratives of other observers, that the difference be- 

 tween these two species in this respect is far less than 

 M. Duvaucel would make it appear. In describing its 

 surprising activity, the French naturalist says— " It 

 escapes like a bird, and like a bird can only be shot, so 

 to speak, flying ; scarcely has it perceived the most 

 distant approach of danger when it is already far away. 

 Climbing rapidly to the tops of the trees, it there seizes 

 the most flexible branch, poises itself two or three times 

 to secure its balance and acquire a sufficient impetus, 

 and thus clears, time after time, witliout elfort as with- 

 out fatigue, spaces of forty feet and upwards." The 

 same writer adds, that although deprived of the 

 guttural sac, so conspicuous in the siamang, its cry 



is very nearly the same, so that either this organ does 

 not produce the effect of increasing the sound usually 

 attributed to it, or it is replaced in the present species 

 by some analogous formation. This cry is compared 

 to the syllables wou-wou, frequently repeated with 

 peculiar modulations. A somewhat similar cry would 

 appear to be common to most of the gibbons, and 

 several of the species, the present one amongst others, 

 receive the name of Wou-wou from the Malays. 



One of these is the Cinereous Gibbon (//. Lcudscus), 

 a native of Java and the Molucca Islands, specimens of 

 which are occasionally brought to Europe. Of the 

 habits of this and the other species in a state of nature, 

 scarcely anything is known ; but we may presume that 

 they are very similar to those which we have been 

 describing. 



The second group of the SimiadK, that of the true 

 Monkeys, diS'ers from the apes just described b}' the 

 constant presence of callosities upon the buttocks, and 

 by the almost constant presence of cheek-pouches and 

 a long tail. The arms are never so disproportionate in 

 length as those of the apes ; and yet the general struc- 

 ture of the body is much further removed from that of 

 man. In their character, also, the monkej's generally 

 exhibit a great diflerence from the apes — the}' are 

 vivacious and petulant in their deportment, and nsuall}- 

 very capricious in their temper; presenting in these 

 respects a marked contrast to tlie grave and somewhat 

 melancholy nature of the species previously described. 

 It is in the East Indies, in the same region inhabited 

 by the orangs and the gibbons, that we find those 

 monkeys which are most distinguished from the rest 

 of their tribe by ape-like characters ; though even liere 

 we meet with species of a more animal type, and 

 resembling their African brethren; whilst the great 

 majority of the latter present a wider divergence from 

 the apes, and gradually approach the baboons. 



THE HOONUMAN {Scmnopithemis EnteUus).~"Sl\ie 

 Indian monkeys above alluded to form the genus Scm- 

 nopilhecus of F. Cuvier, which is characterized by the 

 slender form and long limbs and tail of the species, by 

 the want of cheek-pouches, and by the jiresence of 

 thumbs on the fore-hands. The canines of these mon- 

 keys are but slightly developed, and the molars have 

 their tubercles so arranged as to form transverse ridges 

 — a structure which indicates that the animals rather 

 feed upon the leaves and tender shoots of plants than 

 upon fruits ; and this is also shown by the structure 

 of the stomach, which is very long and much dilated 

 in parts, especially at the anterior end into which the 

 oesophagus or gullet opens. Those dilated portions 

 being separated by constrictions, the stomach ac(|uires 

 a complicated appearance, somewhat resembling that 

 of the ruminant quadrupeds. It is a remarkable fact 

 in connection with this peculiarity of structure, that 

 the stomachs of these monkeys often contain bezoars, 

 or concretions of a similar nature to those found in 

 many Ruminants, and which are so highly prized by 

 eastern nations. The monkey bezoars are said to be 

 of more value than those obtained from the Euminauts. 



The hoonuman, which is for many reasons one of 

 the most interesting species of this group, is a large 



