MONKEYS. 



117 



monkeys — which are at the same time pre-eminently 

 tropical and which make themselves perceived as one of 

 the aspects of tropical nature. They are to be met with 

 in all the great continents and larger islands, except 

 Australia, New Guinea, and Madagascar, though the 

 latter island possesses the lower allied form of Lemurs ; 

 and they never fail to impress the observer with a sense 

 of the exuberant vitality of the tropics. They are pre- 

 eminently arboreal in their mode of life, and are 

 consequently most abundant and varied where vegeta- 

 tion reaches its maximum development. In the East 

 we find that maximum in Borneo, and in the West 

 African forests ; while in the West the great forest plain 

 of the Amazon stands pre-eminent. It is near the equator 

 only that the great Anthropoid apes, the gorilla, chim- 

 panzee, and orang-utan are found, and they may be met 

 with by any persevering explorer of the jungle. The 

 gibbons, or long-armed apes, have a wider range in the 

 Asiatic continent and in Malaya, and they are more 

 abundant both in species and individuals. Their 

 plaintive howling notes may often be heard in the 

 forests, and they are constantly to be seen sporting at 

 the summits of the loftiest trees, swinging suspended 

 by their long arms, or bounding from tree to tree with 

 incredible agility. They pass through the forest at a 

 height of a hundred feet or more, as rapidly as a deer 

 will travel along the ground beneath them. Other 

 monkeys of various kinds are more abundant and 

 usually less shy ; and in places where fire-arms are not 

 much used they will approach the houses and gambol in 

 the trees undisturbed by the approach of man. The 

 most remarkable of the tailed monkeys of the East i;i 



