134 SUSTATRA, [chap, tul 



A very curious apo, the Siamang, was also rather aburidaut, 

 but it. is much less bold than the monkeys, keeping to the 

 virgin forests and avoiding viUagexS. This species is allied to 

 the little lony-armed apes of the genus Hylobates, hut is 

 coiisiderably larger, and differs from them by having the two 

 hrst lingers of the ftiet united together, nearly to the end, 

 whence its Latin name, Siamauga syndactyla- It moves 

 much more slowly than the active Hylobates, keeping 

 lower doAvn in trees, and not indulging in such tremendous 

 leaps ; but it l"3 still very active, and by menus of its im- 

 meuse long arms, five feet six inches across in an adult 

 about three feet liigli, can saving itself along anjong the 

 titles at a great rate, I purchased a small one, which had 

 been caught by the natives and tied up so tightly as to 

 hurt it. It was rather savage at first, and tried to bite; but 

 when we had released it and given it two poles under the 

 verandah to hang upou, securing it by a short cord, 

 running along the pole with a ring, so that it could move 

 easily, it became more contented, and would swing itself 

 about with great rapidity. It ate almost any kind of fruit 

 and rice, and I was in hopes to have brought it to England, 

 but it died Just before I started. It took a dislike to me 

 at first, which I tried to get over by feeding it constantly 

 myself One day, however, it bi t me so shai-ply wldle giving 

 it food, that I lost patience and gave it rather a severe 

 beatii^ which I regretted afterwards, as fmm that time it 

 disliked, ine more than ever. It would allow my Malay 

 boys to play with it, and for hours together would swing 

 by its arras from pole to pole and on to the raftei-s of tlie 

 verandah, with so much ease and rapidity, that it was a 

 constant source of amusement to us. When I returaed to 

 Singapore it attracted great attention, as no one had seen 

 a Siamang alive before, although it is not uncommon in 

 some parts of the Malay peninsula. 



As the Omig-utau is known to inhabit Sumatra, and 

 was in fact first discovered there, I made many inquiries 

 about it; but none of the natives had ever heard of such an 

 animal, nor could I find any of the Dutcli officials who 

 knew anything about it. We may conclude, therefore, that 

 it does not inhabit the great forest plains in the east of 

 Sumatra where one would naturally expect to find it, but 



