He would walk erect slowly, first on one foot and then on the other, and would put his long arms over his head to balance his body, as it swayed first on one side and then on the other as his pace increased; then he began to run, and at last, grasping a bough, would swing himself forwards first with one hand and then with the other, getting over twenty to thirty paces with the greatest ease and regularity. He was timid, very reluctant to oppose those who teased him, and usually retreated at once. His master used to brush his skin for him when he was out of sorts, and the sensation appears to have been most pleasurable, and he evidently enjoyed the gentle friction very much. Falling ill he had a dose of calomel and a warm bath, the latter remedy being much more to his taste than the other.
The skull in the Hoolook has less breadth across the orbits than in the Lar; and in that of a young one the sutures or joinings of the skull-bones are distinct, showing that the side-bones (parietal) of the head unite with the front (frontals), the temporal or ear-bones, and with a part of a wing-shaped bone which forms part of the base of the skull (sphenoid bone). The angle of the jaw projects backwards, and it is slightly turned in; moreover, the projections or cusps of the lower back teeth are five in number, and are prominent-looking and very sharp, as if they could crush a beetle as well as crack a nut.
HOOLOOK. (From a stuffed specimen in the British Museum.)
THE WOOYEN APE, OR YUEN.[23]
A number of Apes were found in company on a small island near Camboja, and at first sight they appeared to be of different kinds, although they all had the long arms and the general appearance of the “Long-armed Apes” (Hylobates). But a careful examination proved that they belonged to one particular species, the individuals of which differ greatly in their colour during different parts of their lives. The young were uniformly dirty white in colour, and had no black spots on their chests or heads. The females were white, with the fur of the back brownish-white, slightly waved, and there was a large black spot on the crown and one on the chest. On the other hand the male was black, and the back of the head, body, and legs greyish. The hands were white. This variation in colour at different ages and in different sexes in one kind should teach us that something more than mere outside distinctions is requisite for deciding the value of what are called species. The dark cap-like mass of hair on the head gives the name to this Ape. Evidently the animal is a puzzle and a source of the marvellous to the Chinese, for one of their gazetteers gives a mixture of correct information regarding its natural history, and of what has been drawn from a very vigorous imagination.
It is described in the following manner, as coming from the district of Hainan:—“Yuen—male black, female white, like a Macaque, but larger, with the two fore-arms exceedingly long. Climbs to tree-tops, and runs among them backwards and forwards with great agility. If it falls to the ground it remains there like a log! Its delight is in scaling trees, as it cannot walk on the ground. Those desiring to rear it in confinement should keep it amongst trees, for the exhalations of the earth affect it with diarrhœa, causing death; a sure remedy for this, however, may be found in a draught made of the syrup of the fried foo-tse” (seeds of Abrus precatorius, the Indian liquorice).
In a work called Pun Yu liang che, the various kinds of Yuens are mentioned which are known to the author. “There are three kinds of Yuens—the Golden-silk Yuen, which is yellow; the Jade-faced Yuen, which is black; and the Jet-black Yuen, which has the face also black. The Golden-silk and the Jade-face are both difficult to procure.” “Hainan has also the Rock Yuen; it is small, about the size of one’s fist. If allowed to drink water it grows in size. This is also called the Black Yuen, and is difficult to obtain.” “The word Yuen is given to them from their love of climbing and their wild disposition.”
In Central Hainan the magistrate of the district was of opinion that the Yuen had the power of drawing its long arm-bones into its body, and that when it drew in one it pushed out the other to such an extraordinary length that he believed the two bones united in the body. He used the front bones of the arms for chopsticks.
