188 MR. G. CANDLER ON THE [ Feb. 17, 
in habit, should be lacking in such a useful appendage as a tail. 
I think, at any rate, that it points to the fact that the apes have 
been developed along a line distinct from the monkeys, the earlier 
traces of which line are yet to be discovered. 
The Hoolocks are extremely shy, and it is most difficult to 
watch them, as they are concealed by leaves high up in the tops of 
the bamboo-clumps or forest trees. You may hear their cries all 
round you as you ride quickly along a jungle-tract, but the 
moment you leave the path or look up at them there is a dead 
silence and scarcely a leaf stirs, until, tired of waiting, you move on 
again. 
The cry of the Hoolock is a characteristic sound in the Cachar 
jungle. It is a very pleasing note, risimg and falling in intensity, 
and reminding one somewhat in its rhythm of a pack of beagles 
giving tongue on a scent which is waxing and waning in strength, 
as a larger or smaller number of the band join in the chorus. 
Tt is heard chiefly in the early morning, then all through the heat 
of the day there is silence, but towards evening, as the sun sinks, 
you may hearitagain. Hooloo! Hooloo! Hooloo! with the accent 
on the Hoo syllable, is supposed to describe the sound, but it is 
really quite indescribable in writing. 
As in other species of apes, there is a special modification of 
the larynx, which acts as a sort of resonating-box, and helps (I 
suppose) to make the sound carry, as it does, long distances. There 
is also a peculiar arrangement of the upper aperture of the larynx, 
with its small and inadequate looking epiglottis, which more 
resembles the arrangement in birds than the leaf-like epiglottis in 
man. 
As, day after day, I have ridden through the jungle, it has seemed 
to me that the Hoolocks work their ground systematically in 
their search for food, just as the planter plucks one section of 
his tea to-day and another section on a distant part of the garden 
to-morrow. For I have found them filling the air with their cries 
along a particular stretch of jungle-road one day, whilst the next 
day not one was to be heard; then, perhaps, a week later they are 
back again in the same place. Living as they do in communities, 
they are constantly on the move, and from what we know of their 
great intelligence, it seems to me highly probable that their move- 
ments are guided by very definite plans, and that very probably 
they have some sort of government system. 
There is a point about the Hoolock that strikes me as very 
extraordinary, and that is the fact that he cannot swim. I had been 
told this by both natives and Kuropeans, but I confess I was 
somewhat sceptical about it until I tried experiments myself. We 
put a full-grown Hoolock into a big tankin 10 feet of water. He 
struggled helplessly, as a boy would before he learns to swim, 
He sank twice, with head thrown back and arms waving franti- 
cally, and we were obliged to rescue him almost asphyxiated and 
choking in the most human way. 
