GROUP OF SIAMANGS AND GIBBONS.

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LARGER IMAGE]

A well-known kind of Gibbon, which is found in Tenasserim, is called the White-handed Gibbon, or Hylobates lar. The old Latin dictionaries translated “lar” as a god who preserved both house and land, and presided over cities and houses, or the chimney or fireside; but this evidently does not apply to the Gibbon. But the Lar, or Lares, were demons, genii, or sprites, and probably the sprite-like activity of the Gibbons in their own woods suggested the name.

WHITE-HANDED GIBBON. (From a stuffed specimen.)

The Hylobates Lar is found in great abundance in all the forests skirting the hills, which run from north to south in the country of Tenasserim, south-west of Burmah. They ascend the hills up to an elevation of from 3,000 to 3,500 feet, but not higher, and are met with in parties of from eight to twenty in number, composed of individuals of all ages. It is rare to see a solitary one; occasionally, however, an old male will stray apart from the flock, and perch on the summit of some vast tree, whence his howls are heard for miles around. The forests which these animals inhabit resound with their cries from sunrise to about nine in the morning, and their usual call may be thus rendered:—

The sounds vary from the deep notes of the old ones to the sharp treble of the young, in horrible unison. During these vocal efforts they appear to resort to the tops of the loftiest trees, and to call each other from different parts of the jungle. After nine or ten o’clock they begin to think of eating, and are soon engaged in feeding on fruit, young leaves, buds, shoots, and insects, for which they occasionally come to the ground. When approached, if alone, they will sit so close, doubled up in a thick tuft of foliage, or behind the fork of a tree, and so screened as to be safe from the shot of the sportsman. With a companion this manœuvre is of course useless. But even when the creature is forced from its hiding-place it is not easily shot, for it swings from branch to branch with its long arms, shaking the boughs all round, and flinging itself from prodigious heights into the dense under-scrub, and is quickly concealed from view. This long-armed Ape does not walk readily on its hind-legs, and has to stop frequently and prop or urge itself on, having the knuckles on the ground. In sitting it often rests on its elbows, and it likes to lie on its back. They make great use of their hind limbs, and of the hand-foot especially, for they will cling on and swing with their fore-hands, and steal and carry anything which pleases them with their hinder ones. In captivity it is generally a gentle, peaceable animal, very timid; but when captured after its young days have passed, it becomes very wild. The adults soon die, and even the young seldom reach maturity when deprived of liberty. They are born generally in the early part of the cold weather, a single one at a time, two being as rare as human twins. The young one clings safely to the mother for about seven months, although she swings and climbs to perfection, and then it shifts for itself. They may be made cross, like most creatures, by being teased, and anger is then shown by a steady look, with the mouth held open, and the lips occasionally drawn back to show the eye teeth, with which they bite severely. But usually it attacks with its long hands, which are at such times held dangling and shaken in a ridiculous manner, like a person who has suddenly burnt his fingers. It drinks in a curious and difficult manner, by scooping the water in its long narrow hand, and thus conveying a very little drop at a time to its mouth.

Usually the young are feeble, dull, and querulous in captivity, and sit huddled up together on the ground, seldom or never climbing trees. On the smooth surface of a matted floor they will run along on their feet and slide on their hands at the same time. By being fed solely on plantains, or on milk and rice, they are apt to lose all their fur, presenting in their nude state a most ridiculous appearance. Few recover; but by change of diet, and especially by allowing them to help themselves to insects, some of them come round, and resume their natural covering. For the most part they are devoid of those pranks and tricks which are exhibited by the smaller Monkeys. The length of a full-grown male was two feet six inches; the fore-limb measured two feet one inch, and the hind limb one foot seven and a half inches. The Lar or White-handed Gibbon has a black skin and hair, and there is a white band round the entire face, across the forehead.