1903. ] HABITS OF THE HOOLOCK. 189 
This weakness he shares with man, but I do not know whether 
(or not) it has been noted in the other anthropoids. 
It is a significant fact that the range of the Hoolock is bounded 
by two vast rivers, the Br ahmaputra on the north and the Irawaddi 
on the south. It may well be that, with his natural aversion to 
water, these rivers have confined him to the comparatively limited 
stretch of country he occupies. Travelling high up in the jungle, 
he could swing easily across the ordinary streams which would 
come in his path without having to take to the water. The 
monkeys of India take readily to water, and it is a pretty sight to 
see them spring out froma lofty overhanging bough and drop, one 
after another, with a splash into the stream, and strike out boldly 
for the further bank. 
In Cachar, where these notes were written, the tea-planters 
often keep Hoolocks for years, allowing them to run. loose about 
the compound, and they are certainly the cleanest and most 
interesting pets imaginable, offering a very marked contrast in 
this respect to the red monkeys, which, chained to a pole, are so 
common a feature in Indian compounds. 
A Hoolock, to be tamed in this way, must be caught quite young 
and not tied or shut up in any way. A native boy is generally tolid 
off to watch him for a few days, and to prevent him i om bolting, 
but he soon learns to come down from the trees for a a plantain, 
and he will in most cases settle down to a solitary life, remaining 
about the same compound for years. But chain him or restrain 
his liberty in any way, and he inevitably begins to mope and pine, 
and invariably dies in a few weeks. It is strange that the calls of 
the wild Hoolocks, which he must hear almost daily all round him, 
do not tempt him to revert to his natural life as a member of 
wandering community. I imagine a Hovlock, who attempted to join 
a strange band, would meet with a rough reception, anyway they 
never ti ‘y to retur n to the jungle after they become tame. 
Several such tame Hoolocks I have had the opportunity of 
observing for some months past. Often they will be away up in 
the tree-tops for days together, when nothing will tempt them 
down, but when one chooses to be sociable he will come and sit 
on the arm of your chair at breakfast, and never reach or snatch 
things off the table: in fact his manners are unexceptionable, and 
he keeps his skin beautifully clean without that exaggerated 
parade of flea-hunting which makes the monkey tribe so objection- 
able as pets. At sunset you may see him settle down to sleep, 
jammed tight in a fork in a squatting position. In this semi- 
domesticated state I notice that the Hoolock seldom uses his 
voice. I suppose, leading a solitary bachelor life, he finds no 
necessity for chattering or calling. With regard to the diet of 
the Hoolock, Dr. Blanford, the Indian naturalist, gives a long 
list, including fruit, leaves, young shoots, spiders, insects, birds’ 
eges and young birds. But, it seems to me, the diet of such shy 
creatures must be largely a matter of conjecture, for no certain 
