IN SUMATliA. 



without seeing ii blussom gay tniongh to attmct admimtion ; 

 Tiir uftoiior I buvo stoppetl to \\hwk a gt*rgcons fruit A viist 

 aiiiuuiit of tropical v egetation has small inconspicuous flowers 

 of a more or less green coloitr, so that when they- c!o occur 

 the eye faik to detect them readily. The fresh green, the 

 rich piuk, ami even scarlet of the opening leaves are beautiful 

 boyttnd description, and the autumn-tinted foUage never ceasea 

 tlirough alt the soasuns, and with so much colour one is quite 

 i-untotit to forget the absem^e of flowers. 



On the passing traveller, therefore, the vegetation at the lower 

 cdevatious leaves ttie impression of a tangled heterogeneous 

 mass (if inliuge of every shape and sliade mingled together in 

 such unutterable confusion, tiuit not one singh: plant stands 

 out in anything like its own individuality on his mind. 



EveiT now smd then a curve of the road brought me on a 

 colony of ?>itinning apes {*S'iaman(/a s^jmlactt/la), some titf theni 

 hanging by one arm to a dead branch of a high-fruiting tree 

 with eighty unobstructed feet between them and the ground, 

 niulving the woods resound with their h>nd Uirking howls. 

 The 8iamang comes next in sisse to the Orang-utan, which is 

 the largest of the great apes living in this part of the worhl, 

 and which is found elsewhere only in the Malacca peninsula, 

 the Orang-utan being confined to Sumatra and Borneo, 



The Sianuing is a very tH>werful animal when full grown, 

 and has long jet-black glancdng hair. In height it stands 

 little over three feet three or four inches, but the stretch 

 of its arms across the chest measures no less than five feet 

 /ivo to six inches, endowing it with a great power of rapid 

 [jFOgression among tlie brandies of the trees. Its singular 

 cry is produced by its inflating, through a valve from the 

 windpipe, a large sac extending to its lips and cheeks, situated 

 below the skin of the throat, then suddenly expelling the 

 enclosed air in greater or less jets, so as to produce the singular 

 modulations of its voice. 



Gedong-tetahan proved a very untavourable hunting 

 ground, ns it was surroumled by unproHtalde ulang-alang 

 helds. Nevertheless, I obtained some interesting birds. 

 Among them I secured the crested bee-eater (Ni/cliorniB 

 amu'tit), a beautiful (rreatnre with rose-coloured head and a 

 throat of a rich shade of venniliun, which preferred the open 



Lv 



