Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
by Mr. Darwin in his celebrated 'Origin of Species,' offers the foundation for such a theory;
and I have myself endeavoured to apply it to all the chief cases of imitation in an article
published in the
Westminster Review
for 1867, entitled, 'Mimicry, and other Protective
Resemblances among Animals,' to which any reader is referred who wishes to know more
about this subject.
In Sumatra, monkeys are very abundant, and at Lobo Raman they used to frequent the
trees which overhang the guard-house, and give me a fine opportunity of observing their
gambols. Two species of Semnopithecus were most plentiful—monkeys of a slender form,
with very long tails. Not being much shot at they are rather bold, and remain quite uncon-
cerned when natives alone are present; but when I came out to look at them, they would
stare for a minute or two and then make off. They take tremendous leaps from the branches
of one tree to those of another a little lower, and it is very amusing when one strong leader
takes a bold jump, to see the others following with more or less trepidation; and it often hap-
pens that one or two of the last seem quite unable to make up their minds to leap till the rest
are disappearing, when, as if in desperation at being left alone, they throw themselves
frantically into the air, and often go crashing through the slender branches and fall to the
ground.
A very curious ape, the Siamang, was also rather abundant, but it is much less bold than
the monkeys, keeping to the virgin forests and avoiding villages. This species is allied to the
little long-armed apes of the genus Hylobates, but is considerably larger, and differs from
them by having the two first fingers of the feet united together, nearly to the end, whence its
Latin name, Siamanga syndactyla. It moves much more slowly than the active Hylobates,
keeping lower down in trees, and not indulging in such tremendous leaps; but it is still very
active, and by means of its immense long arms, five feet six inches across in an adult about
three feet high, can swing itself along among the trees 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 upon, 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 bit me so sharply while giving it
food, that I lost patience and gave it rather a severe beating, which I regretted afterwards, as
from that time it disliked me more than ever. It would allow my Malay boys to play with it,
and for hours together would swing by its arms from pole to pole and on to the rafters of the
