Chapter II
THE MAN-SHAPED APES (continued)--THE NSCHIEGO MBOUVÉ--THE KOOLO-KAMBA--THE SOKO--THE CHIMPANZEE.
THE NSCHIEGO MBOUVÉ--Its Nests and Habits--A Specimen Shot--Differences between it and the Gorilla--Structural Peculiarities--THE KOOLO-KAMBA--Meaning of the Name--Discovered by Du Chaillu--Its Outward Appearance and Anatomy--THE SOKO--Discovered by Livingstone--Hunting the Soko--THE CHIMPANZEE--In Captivity--On board Ship--A Young Chimpanzee--The Brain and Nerves--Anatomical Peculiarities--General Remarks upon the Group.
THE NSCHIEGO MBOUVÉ.[8]
This great Ape, which attains the height of four feet, and has a spread of arms of seven feet, was discovered by Du Chaillu in the Gaboon district. It is remarkable for building very comfortable shelters, and this led to its being found; for Du Chaillu, in one of his excursions, was trudging along, rather tired of sport, when he saw a most singular-looking shelter built on the branches of a tree. He thought it had been made by the natives, and asked whether the hunters had the habit of sleeping in the woods, but was told, to his great surprise, that it was a nest built by the Nschiego Mbouvé, an Ape. Moreover, one of the natives told him that it was a curious creature, which had a bald head.
Many of the nests were seen subsequently, and it was noticed that they were generally built about fifteen or twenty feet from the ground, and invariably on a tree which stands slightly apart from others, and which had no lower bough beneath the shelter. Occasionally they are to be seen at the height of fifty feet; and it would appear that the altitude has something to do with the dread of the few flesh-eating and destructive beasts, such as the Leopard. The loneliest parts of the forest are chosen, for the animal is shy, and is very rarely seen, even by the negroes. The materials for the nest consist of leafy branches, and are collected by the male and the female also, who tie them together, and to the tree, very neatly with twigs of the vine. The roof is so well constructed that it closely resembles human work, and it throws off the rain admirably, for it is neatly rounded at the top. During its construction, the female gathers the branches and vines, whilst the male builds; but afterwards they do not occupy the same shelter, the male making another close by in a neighbouring tree. The roof, which is usually some six or eight feet in diameter, is more or less dome-shaped, or something like an extended umbrella; and the Nschiego gets under it and clasps the tree, or squats on a bough, so that its head is just beneath the under surface. The nests are not occupied permanently, and usually for not more than eight or ten days, for the Apes, living upon wild berries of a certain kind, select spots where they are plentiful, and leave them when the store is exhausted. Du Chaillu never saw many nests together, and he does not think the animals live in troops, but only in pairs. Sometimes a solitary nest is seen, inhabited by a Nschiego, whose silvery hair denotes its age, and probably its desire for solitude after a long and troublous life.
Being desirous of obtaining one of these shelter makers, as they were evidently new to science, Du Chaillu took every precaution to surprise his prey; but it is best to tell the story in his own words:--
“We travelled with great caution, not to alarm our prey, and had a hope that, by singling out a shelter, and waiting till dark, we should find it occupied. In this hope we were not disappointed. Lying quite still in our concealment (which tried my patience sorely), we at last, just at dusk, heard the peculiar ‘Hew, hew, hew,’ which is the call of the male to his mate. We waited till it was quite dark, and then I saw what I had so longed all the weary afternoon to see. A Nschiego was sitting in his nest. His feet rested on the lower branch, his head reached quite into the little dome of the roof, and his arm was clasped firmly round the tree-trunk. This is their way of sleeping. After gazing till I was tired through the gloom at my sleeping victim, two of us fired, and the unfortunate beast fell at our feet without a struggle, or even a groan. We built a fire at once, and made our camp in this place, that when daylight came I might first of all examine and skin my prize. The poor Ape was hung up to be out of the way of insects, and I fell asleep on my bed of leaves and grass, as pleased a man as the world could well hold. Next morning I had leisure to examine the Nschiego.
“I was at once struck with points of difference between it and the Chimpanzee. It was smaller, and had a bald black head. This is its distinctive character. This specimen was three feet eleven inches high, or long. It was an adult. Its skin, where there is no hair, is black, and the thick breast and abdomen are covered with short and rather thin blackish hairs. On the lower part of the abdomen the hair is thinnest, but this is not perceived unless looked at carefully, as the skin is the colour of the hair. On the legs the hair is of a dirty grey, mixed with black. The shoulders and back have black hair between two and three inches long, mixed with a little grey. The arms down to the wrist have also long black hair, but shorter than in the Gorilla. The hair is blacker, longer, glossier, and thinner in general than that on the Gorilla, and the skin is not so tough. I noticed that the bare places, where the hair is worn off by contact with hard substances in sleeping, were different from the bare places which are so conspicuous on the common Chimpanzee.
“It is not as powerful an animal as the Gorilla, its chest is not so large, but the arms and fingers are a little longer, and this is the case with the toes also. The nose is not so prominent, but the mouth is wider and the ears are larger. Its chin is rounder, and has more small hairs, and the side of the face is thinly covered with hair, commencing about the middle of the ear, and these would seem to be signs of an incipient beard and whiskers. The lower parts of the body are bare, and the skin is white there.”
Apparently the disposition and temper of the Nschiego are better than those of the Gorilla; it is less ferocious, and is even docile in captivity. It has not the hideous expression of the great Ape, for there is something of a forehead above the ridge of the eyebrow, and there are no great crests on the head, which is rounder than that of the Gorilla. The teeth are rather smaller, but are of the same number. The height is less than that of the female Gorilla, as a rule; and the male of this bald kind is larger than its female; whilst the little young ones differ in their colour from both, being white. Finally, it would appear that there are hard callous pads on the back of the fingers, that the hand is larger than the feet, and that the tips of the fingers reach a little below the knee. Associated with the Gorilla and with the Chimpanzee in the forests of Equatorial Western Africa, the Bald-headed Troglodyte appears to have a restricted geographical range, and not to be found over so large a district as its companions, for it was only met with on the table-lands of the interior, and in the densest forests.
Subsequently Du Chaillu had a good opportunity of substantiating his statements about the nests.
“On our way down, at sunset of the third day, we heard the call of a Nschiego Mbouvé (Troglodytes calvus). I immediately caused my men to lie down, and was just getting into a hiding-place myself, when I saw, in the branches of a tree at a little distance, the curious nest or bower of this Ape; hard by, on another tree, was another shelter. We crept up within shot of this nest, and then waited, for I was determined to see once more the precise manner in which this animal goes to rest. We lay flat on the ground, and covered ourselves with leaves and bush, scarcely daring to breathe, lest the approaching animal should hear us. From time to time I heard the calls. There were evidently two, probably male and female. Just as the sun was setting, I saw an animal approach the tree. It ascended by a hand-over-hand movement, with great rapidity, crept carefully under the shelter, seated itself on the crotch made by a projecting bough, its feet and haunches resting on this bough; then it put one arm about the trunk of the tree for security.
“Thus, I suppose, they rest all night; and this posture accounts for some singular abrasions of hair on the side of the Nschiego Mbouvé. At a little distance off I saw another shelter made for the mate. No sooner was it seated than it began again to utter its call. It was answered; and I began to have the hope that I should shoot both animals, when an unlucky motion of one of my men roused the suspicions of the Ape in the tree. It began to prepare for descent, and, unwilling to risk the loss of this one, I fired. It fell to the ground dead. It proved to be a male, with the face and hands entirely black. As we were not in haste, I made my men cut down the trees which contained the nests of these Apes. I found them made precisely as I have before described, and as I have always found them, of long branches and leaves, laid one over the other very carefully and thickly, so as to render the structure capable of shedding off water. The branches were fastened to the tree in the middle of the structure by means of wild vines and creepers, which are so abundant in these forests. The projecting limb on which the Ape perched was about four feet long. There remains no doubt in my mind that these nests are made by the animal to protect it from the nightly rains. When the leaves begin to dry to that degree that the structure no longer throws off water, the owner builds a new shelter, and this happens generally once in ten or fifteen days. At this rate the Nschiego Mbouvé is an animal of no little industry.”
The differences between the outside appearance and the intelligence and temper of this Bald-headed Ape and those of the Gorilla are accompanied by certain internal ones. A careful examination of the skull of the Tschiégo, as its clever French describer, Duvernay, calls it, shows that it has smaller ridges, a less prominent muzzle, and a wider and shorter roof of the mouth than the Gorilla. The last of the upper crushing, or back teeth, is the smallest. In the Gorilla they are nearly equal in size. The lower jaw in the Nschiego has three nearly equal-sized molar or back teeth, and the first and the second have five projections or cusps, but the last has only four. In the Gorilla it has five cusps. These minute differences are probably constant, and therefore must not be passed over, although they may seem to be of no importance to the creatures. But the classification of animals can only depend upon the presence or absence of structural peculiarities; and when such and such a structure exists in one, and not in another, they cannot both be of the same kind. According to the relation of the structure to the life, and according to its being constantly found, so is it important in deciding whether the “kind” is a species, or a mere variety or race.
The great distinction between the two animals is that the Nschiego’s forehead, formed by the frontal bone, rises up from the great brow ridge, and is visible from the front. This is not the case with the Gorilla, whose forehead recedes greatly. Both animals have the same number of ribs (thirteen), but those of the Nschiego are more man-shaped and are not so broad and close together; and their chests differ in breadth, for the breast-bone of the new Ape is narrower, but it is long and thick. The blade-bone, so important to the Gorilla, is equally so to the Nschiego, but it is longer and narrower on the back, and its spine is very oblique. Possibly this conformation of the bone may have to do with the constant climbing of the Bald-headed Ape, but nevertheless the spines on the neck-bones, which give origin to such exceedingly strong muscles in the Gorilla, are much smaller in the Nschiego. The first neck-bone, or atlas, has no spine in this Ape, in which it is like man, and the axis, or second, has a forked spine, and is crested at the end, but otherwise is like that in man.
Finally, the rudiment of a tail is like that end of the back-bone found in the Gorilla and in man.
These are the principal points and the most important distinctions; they show that the Nschiego cannot be of the same kind or species as the Gorilla, but is a Troglodyte, resembling the Gorilla somewhat in its skeleton, and although smaller than the male, still quite, if not more, man-shaped.
The London Zoological Society own a fine example of the Bald-headed Chimpanzee (Anthropopithecus calvus), which, under the name of “Sally,” is known to every frequenter of their famous Gardens, where it has resided since October, 1883.
THE KOOLO-KAMBA.[9]
This kind of Troglodyte is celebrated for saying koola-koolo over and over again as its favourite cry, for having a very extraordinary frog-like figure, and for being one of those creatures which are exceedingly interesting to zoologists, because they are, as it were, half one thing and half another.
A neighbour of the great Apes already noticed, it associates also with the common Chimpanzee, in the quiet forests of Western Equatorial Africa. In one of these Du Chaillu first saw it, and he describes his discovery as follows:--
“We had hardly got clear of the Bashikoway ants and their bites when my ears were saluted by the singular cry of the Ape I was after. ‘Koola-koolo! koola-koolo!’[10] it said several times. Gambo and I raised our eyes, and saw, high up on a tree-branch, a large Ape. We both fired at once, and the next moment the poor beast fell to the ground with a heavy crash. I rushed up, anxious to see if, indeed, I had a new animal. I saw in a moment that it was neither a Nschiego Mbouvé, nor a Chimpanzee, nor a Gorilla. Again I had a happy day--marked for ever with red ink in my calendar. We at once disembowelled the animal, which was a male. I found in its intestines only vegetable matter and remains. The skin and skeleton were taken into camp, where I cured the former with arsenic sufficiently to take it into Obindji. The animal was a full-grown male, four feet three inches high, and was less powerfully built than the male Gorilla, but as powerful as either the Chimpanzee or Nschiego Mbouvé. When it was brought into Obindji, all the people, and even Quenqueza, at once exclaimed, ‘That is a Koolo-Kamba.’ Then I asked them about the other Apes I already knew, but for these they had other names, and did not at all confound the species. For all these reasons I was assured that my prize was indeed a new animal; a variety, at least, of those before known. The Koolo-Kamba has several distinctive marks: a very round head, whiskers running quite round the face and below the chin; the face is round, the cheek-bones prominent, the eyes sunken, and the jaws not very prominent, less so than in any of the Apes. The hair is black and long on the arm, which was, however, partly bare. The Koolo is the Ape, of all the great Apes now known, which most nearly approaches man in the structure of its head; for the capacity of the cranium is somewhat greater, in proportion to the animal’s size, than in either the Gorilla or the Nschiego Mbouvé. Of its habits these people could tell me nothing, except that farther in the interior it was found more frequently, and that it was like the Gorilla, very shy and hard of approach.” They are rare animals, and Du Chaillu met with this one only; it was as large as a female Gorilla, and from its structure was evidently a great climber.
One was killed and sent over to Paris several years since, and its anatomy forms a great treatise by the distinguished men whose names are appended to its title, Troglodytes Aubryi.
They agree with Du Chaillu in his slight notice of its shape and peculiarities to a certain extent, and in his notice that the arms reach below the knee, that the shoulders are broad, and that the ears are large, but they give some very interesting descriptions of its strange characteristics. It has many points of resemblance with the Gorilla and many with the Nschiego, but it has others which cause it to be like the common Chimpanzee, and which show some likeness to the great Baboon. It fills up the gap in the animal scale between the Nschiego and Gorilla on the one hand, and the true Chimpanzee (Troglodytes niger) on the other; and were it not in existence, it would be necessary to divide these Apes into two groups or genera, to make, in fact, a genus Gorilla and a genus Troglodytes, the first to contain the Gorilla and Nschiego, and the last the Chimpanzee. They are all therefore linked together in one genus by it, that of Troglodytes.
The shape and the peculiar anatomy of the Koolo-Kamba are not simply curious and only interesting to those who study dry bones, for they have to do with its habits and mode of life, and their examination is full of instruction to those who like to understand causes and effects, and design in Nature. Much has been explained in the chapter on the Gorilla regarding the different parts of the body, and if that information is considered there will be no difficulty in comprehending all about the Ape now under consideration.
The shape of the body as a whole is admirably adapted for great powers of climbing and of exertion of the limbs, and these last are adapted for the same end in a manner surpassing the great Apes already described. But, moreover, the body is peculiarly suited, not for maintaining or often using the upright position or the legs, but for going on all-fours, like a Baboon or Dog. Doubtless the Gorilla and the Nschiego do often stand up for a short time, and their construction points at this being very possible, as their frame has a combination of structures for doing this and for climbing. Now the Koolo-Kamba must differ from them in its structure, for it requires those which enable it to invariably go on all-fours, and yet to climb better than the others.
It never wants to sit down, except with its knees drawn up to its nose, and it squats on its haunch bones (the tuberosities of the haunch--of the “ischium” bone).
The body is very ball-like, and there is no visible division between the chest, the stomach, and the hips; it is not troubled with a waist, and anything like one is positively below the hips, just over where the thighs join the body. In fact, as before noticed, the shape is that of a frog. There are no graceful curves to the back, and there is no “small” to it. On looking at the chest, it will be noticed that it is long behind and short in front; the ribs go down close to the edge of the hips; and in order that this extra stoutness and strength of loin shall be there, there are fourteen ribs, instead of thirteen, as in the other great Apes. The breast-bone in front sticks out, so that were the animal to lie on its stomach its point would lean on the ground, and not its front, as in us. This last peculiarity is an adaptation for going on all-fours. The absence of waist and the shape of the loins relate to the small size of one of the muscles of the back (sacro lumbalis), large and important in man.
The belly is very large, and it is kept from pushing into the chest by the capacity given to the space within the ribs and breast-bone, by a bulged-out state of the ribs at the back, and the projection of the breast-bone. Hence, the frog-like figure looks asthmatical; and as it is very high-shouldered, there is but little neck.
All this bulging has not only reference to the maintenance of the capacity of the lungs, and its independence of the great stomach, which, when full, would tend to press in all directions, but it enables the muscles of the back and shoulders, which have so much to do with climbing, to be large and vigorous. More space is afforded for the insertion or attachment of muscular fibres.
The blade-bone does not add to the bulk of the shoulders, for it is rather long and narrow for a great Ape; and its spine, which has so much to do with the muscles which lift up the arm, is very much aslant, and in the best direction for constant climbing, instead of much walking on the knuckles. And that climbing and holding on are the usual motions may be credited, it is only necessary to notice that the arms and the fingers are long, and that the tips of them touch below the knee when the skeleton is placed upright. Moreover, this great length is accompanied by corresponding strength, and also by a very curious condition of the hands.
The Koolo has a larger hand in relation to its breadth than the Gorilla, and there are no bunches of muscle forming rounded swellings or balls under the thumb and little finger. On the contrary, the long and narrow palm is, as it were, bent across, as if it could fit capitally on to a bough. There is no doubt that this Ape, like all the others, does a good deal of swinging, by holding on to boughs with its hands, when the arms are straight above the head; and that they move along a bough, or from tree to tree, in this position, without bending the elbow, and with considerable speed. This method of getting along may also be seen in Chimpanzees. Evidently the curved palm will be of immense advantage in such actions, and especially when it is combined, as it is in the Koolo-Kamba, with a slightly bent-downwards condition of the fingers. The bones (phalanges) of the fingers are long, and each is slightly curved, and not straight, as in man and the great Apes already noticed, so that their three bones, when in their proper position, are decidedly out of a straight line, and present a general curve, which is rendered all the more decided by the bend in the palm. All this is very useful for grasping and holding on. But it is not all; in man and the other great Apes, the wrist consists of two rows of small bones, one placed before the other: the first row is jointed to the bones of the fore-arm, at what is called the wrist-joint, which moves forwards and backwards as a hinge; and the second row is so jointed on the first row that there is no movement, and in front it is jointed to the bones of the palm, and to those of the thumb. Now in the Koolo the second row of wrist-bones--or as they are called from the Latin, carpus, a wrist--carpal bones are movable on the first row, and muscular exertion can bend, not only the metacarpal bones and the fingers, but also the wrist-bones. Hence the hand is more movable in the bending direction than that of man, and the reason is because of the peculiar requirements of the creature’s life. The thumb is small, and only reaches the first joint of the forefinger: its tip can only touch the tip of one finger at a time, and not those of all, as in man, and therefore it is not of much use in distinguishing objects by touch; moreover, it cannot be stuck out far--and this is necessary, for in climbing its tip is required to be as close to the fingers as is possible. The muscles of the hands and arms resemble those of the Chimpanzee generally, and will be noticed in describing it.
When the Koolo-Kamba walks, it does so like the Gorilla, by leaning on the backs of its fingers, and hence it has callous pads on the back of their second bones. All the peculiar construction of the hands and wrist bears a relation to the vast muscular development of the muscles of the back of the chest and shoulders in the process of climbing; and it is to be observed, as it was in the instance of the Gorilla, that these muscles have more to do with such actions than those of the chest, which go to the arm, and which are so much used in man for that purpose. The muscles of the chest are not large and strong in the Apes, for, as has already been mentioned, they climb with the back of the hand towards the face, and do not attempt, like man, to lift the body with the palm and nails turned towards him. This last proceeding necessitates large chest muscles, and the former large ones at the back of the shoulders.
There is something remarkable about the haunch-bones, or those parts of them which support the body when sitting. In man they are well in front of the end of the back-bone, which tapers off and turns in a little, and forms a rudiment of a tail. These tuberosities of the haunch-bone (as they are called, because they are swollen out and flattened for the especial purpose in man) are placed, in the Koolo-Kamba, behind the end of the spine or the true rudiment of the tail, and this throws all the under parts backwards, giving the animal a thorough Baboon and animal character. Oddly enough, the rudiment of the tail in this Ape is smaller than in man.
A study of the foot shows that it is of immense use in holding on and in climbing, and of none in walking. It looks more like a small hand, furnished with a great thumb, than a foot with a toe-thumb.
It differs from human feet in the length of the toes, and this is rather an interesting artistic point, for there is some diversity in the opinions regarding which should be the longest toes in man.
The Greek statues--those grand models of the highest types of mankind--very constantly have the second toe the longest, and reaching more to the front, when the foot is on the ground, than the great toe and the third. Nowadays, after men have had their feet pinched, cabined, and confined in all sorts of boots and shoes, generation after generation it is wonderful that their toes should be of any shape at all; and, therefore, it must be anticipated that the Grecian type will not always prevail. Nevertheless, although the great toe is often the longest, the third toe never is, except there is some decided deformity, like double toes. It is, however, the third toe which is the longest in the Ape, just as the third finger of the hand is the longest in man; and hence the Ape’s foot, with its great thumb, is in this hand-like. But as has been mentioned before, bone for bone, and almost muscle for muscle, the human and Ape’s foot agree, and the hinder extremity of this last is really a foot with a toe-thumb.
On looking at the head of the Koolo, one is struck with the great ears, which are larger than those of the Apes already described, and almost as large as, but less detached, than those of the Chimpanzee. The skull is globular, and with a low contracted forehead receding behind the brow crests; but there are only faint ridges on its sides, although the muscles of the jaw are large, and they come from the sides of the skull. The head is very hairy, and the face, which is very prognathous (Greek, gnathos, jaw or mouth), or projecting in front, is black. It is rendered very tigerish and ugly by the flat nose merging into a wide, thick, projecting upper lip, without any furrow; and the mouth looks like a wide slit, there being no chin, on account of the pouting nature of the great lips.
Like the other Troglodytes, the Koolo-Kamba has great air sacs or throat pouches, which are hidden amongst the great muscles of the neck, and enter the organ of voice, or the larynx, between the upper and lower structures for the production of vocal sound. Their size and general nature may be satisfactorily compared with those of the Gorilla. (See page 22.)
Having something of a voice, this Ape has a better-formed palate than the others, and its tongue has not such a jumble of papillæ or little needle points on it as they have, for the larger cup-shaped ones are arranged at the back in the shape of the letter Y. The last molar tooth of the lower jaw has five cusps.
A huge eater of vegetable food, it requires a large stomach, and this has the two openings very close together, that is to say, the one for the passage of food in, and the other for the passage of food out, into the small gut. There is, as in all vegetarians by nature, a large great intestine, enormous, in fact, and this ends, as in man, in a blind gut with an appendix. The cause of all this is that vegetable food does not contain much available nourishment, and large portions of it must come in contact with the mucous or absorbing membrane of the stomach and bowels, in order that a proper quantity of nutritious matter may be absorbed, and be made into blood. The contrary is the case in flesh-eating animals, whose food contains a high percentage of nourishment; for in them the stomach and intestines are small, the surface required not being great, and nature is wonderfully economical.
THE SOKO.
This animal, both as regards its name, description, and habits, we owe to Livingstone; and the stories which he heard of it from the natives, in the strange country to the west of the great lake Tanganyika, must have wiled away many a weary hour during his ill-health and gradual loss of energy.
The first notice of it is curious, and occurs in his “Last Journals.” They were in want of rain, and he writes:--“A Soko, alive, was believed to be a good charm for rain, so one was caught; and the captor had the ends of two fingers and toes bitten off. The Soko, or Gorilla, always tries to bite off these parts, and has been known to overpower a young man, and leave him without the ends of fingers and toes. I saw the nest of one; it was a poor contrivance--no more architectural skill shown than in the nest of our cushat dove.” Here the consideration of this creature might have ended, for Livingstone terms it a Gorilla, but this name, like that of Pongo, is evidently given to all great African Apes with bad characters, and moreover, as will be noticed presently, when one of the illustrious traveller’s native companions came to England, and was shown a stuffed Gorilla, he decided that it was not the same thing as the Soko.
In another part of his Journal Livingstone returns to the Soko, which he still calls the Gorilla; but in the drawings given it evidently is not one, and is neither as large in its body nor as ugly in the face; moreover, the large ears would cause it to be considered, were there not other reasons, as one of the true Chimpanzees, or Troglodytes niger.
The following extracts from Livingstone possess undoubted interest:--
“24th August.--Four Gorillas or Sokos were killed yesterday; an extensive grass-burning forced them out of their usual haunt, and coming on the plain they were speared. They often go erect, but place the hand on the head, as if to steady the body. When seen thus the Soko is an ungainly beast. The most sentimental young lady would not call him a ‘dear,’ but a bandy-legged, pot-bellied, low-looking villain, without a particle of the gentleman in him. Other animals, especially the Antelopes, are graceful, and it is pleasant to see them, either at rest or in motion; the natives also are well made, lithe and comely to behold; but the Soko, if large, would do well to stand for a picture of the devil. He takes away my appetite by his disgusting bestiality of appearance. His light yellow face shows off his ugly whiskers and faint apology for a beard; the forehead, villainously low, with high ears, is well in the background of the great dog-mouth; the teeth are slightly human, but the canines show the beast by their large development. The hands, or rather the fingers, are like those of the natives. The flesh of the feet is yellow; and the eagerness with which the Manyuema devour it, leaves the impression that eating Sokos was the first stage by which they arrived at being cannibals; they say the flesh is delicious. The Soko is represented by some to be extremely knowing, successfully stalking men and women while at their work; kidnapping children, and running up trees with them, he seems to be amused by the sight of the young native in his arms, but comes down when tempted by a bunch of bananas, and as he lifts that, drops the child; the young Soko, in such a case, would cling closely to the armpit of the elder. One man was cutting out honey from a tree, and naked, when a Soko suddenly appeared and caught him, then let him go; another man was hunting, and missed in his attempt to stab a Soko; it seized the spear, and broke it, then grappled with the man, who called to his companions, ‘Soko has caught me!’ The Soko bit off the ends of his fingers, and escaped unharmed. Both men are now alive at Bambarré.”
“The Soko is so cunning, and has such sharp eyes, that no one can stalk him in front without being seen; hence, when shot, it is always in the back; when surrounded by men and nets, he is generally speared in the back too, otherwise he is not a very formidable beast. He is nothing, as compared in power of damaging his assailant, to a Leopard or Lion, but is more like a man unarmed, for it does not occur to him to use his canine teeth, which are long and formidable. Numbers of them came down in the forest, within a hundred yards of our camp, and would be unknown but for giving tongue like Fox-hounds; this is their nearest approach to speech. A man, hoeing, was stalked by a Soko, and seized; he roared out, but the Soko giggled and grinned, and left him as if he had done it in play. A child, caught up by a Soko, is often abused by being pinched, and scratched, and let fall.”
“The Soko kills the Leopard occasionally, by seizing both paws and biting them, so as to disable them; he then goes up a tree, groans over his wounds, and sometimes recovers, while the Leopard dies. At other times both Soko and Leopard die. The Lion kills him at once, and sometimes tears his limbs off, but does not eat him. The Soko eats no flesh; small bananas are his dainties, but not maize. His food consists of wild fruits, which abound, and of these one is like large sweet sop, but indifferent in taste. The Soko brings forth at times twins. A very large Soko was seen by Mohamad’s hunters, sitting picking his nails; they tried to stalk him, but he vanished. Some Manyuema think that their buried dead rise as Sokos, and one was killed with holes in his ears, as if he had been a man. He is very strong, and fears guns, but not spears. He never catches women.”
“Sokos collect together, and make a drumming noise, some say with hollow trees, then burst forth into loud yells, which are well imitated by the natives’ embryonic music. If a man has no spear, the Soko goes away satisfied; but if wounded, he seizes the wrist, lops off the fingers and spits them out, slaps the cheeks of his victim, and bites without breaking the skin; he draws out a spear (but never uses it), and takes some leaves and stuffs them into his wound to staunch the blood; he does not seek an encounter with an armed man. He sees women do him no harm, and never molests them; a man without a spear is nearly safe from him. Manyuema say, ‘Soko is a man, and nothing bad in him.’ They live in communities of about ten, each having his own female; an intruder from another camp is beaten off with their fists and loud yells. If one tries to seize the female of another, he is caught on the ground, and all unite in boxing and biting the offender. A male often carries a child, especially if they are passing from one patch of forest to another over a grassy space; he then gives it to the mother.”
The “Last Journals” contains a portrait of a young Soko (reproduced on page 47), which shows a short-armed, weak-legged, long-eared creature; and in the engraving on page 48, the adults which are being hunted are certainly very much shorter than the natives who are killing them. All that can be said, then, is that possibly the Soko is a kind of Troglodyte, greatly resembling the kind we have next to notice; but its geographical range is most interesting. Its being found so many hundreds of miles from the Sierra del Crystal, and beyond the woods of the coast-living Chimpanzees, would appear to prove that formerly there were forest and jungle far away to the east, where there are now plains, rivers, and lakes with much forest land.
THE TRUE CHIMPANZEE.[11]
The name Chimpanzee has sometimes been given to all the great Apes just described, but reference has been made, in considering some points in their anatomy and habits, to a particular animal which bears this name. This one comes next to them in the descending order of the scale of beings, and completes the number of the kinds of these man-shaped Apes of Equatorial Africa. It is the animal, the young of which have frequently been brought to England, where they have been celebrated for their gentle fun, romping play, good climbing, and their ability to imitate many human habits--clothes-wearing, tobacco-smoking, and tea-drinking especially. It is the Chimpanzee of Chimpanzees, the young of which have such very human-looking faces and most baby-like skulls. Being covered for the most part, and especially on the top and sides of the head, with long black hairs, it is called the Black Chimpanzee, or Troglodytes niger.
It was a sight worth seeing to be present in the Monkey House of the Zoological Gardens, in London, when the keeper paid an early morning visit to his attached friend, the Chimpanzee. If he was not quite awake, or lazily inclined, and snugly covered up in his little wooden house, and the keeper called him, a commotion was heard inside, and then a round little figure with a large head came tumbling out, and rushed to the iron wicket. He creeps along at a great rate on all-fours, but the body is half erect, for the fore limbs are long, and the knuckles, or rather the back parts of the second joints of the fingers, are allowed to touch the ground and support the frame in front, whilst the elbows are kept straight. The hind legs, being short, move one after the other as in a canter, and it is readily noticed that although the feet touch the ground on their outer edges they can rest flat on the soles.
There is much joyful recognition, and after he has put his arms around the keeper’s neck, he enjoys being tickled and laid on his back in the straw. Making grunts and little laughs, he shows his fine set of teeth, and his fine hazel-coloured eyes twinkle with fun. Then he rushes off, tumbling head over heels, scampers over the straw, and with a jump clasps one of the horizontal wooden bars in the cage, and swings himself up and on to it with an ease and grace which many a gymnast might envy. Running along this, and just balancing himself with the assistance of the back of his hand, he nears a rope, and then, after seizing it, swings with arms out at full length, now catching hold of others or of the wire lattice-work with his feet and toe-thumb, or suddenly coming to the ground with a great bounce. This is usually preparatory to coming to the spectators, and he then squats down, folds his arms, and moves his shoulders from side to side in a quick and restless manner. Another scamper brings him to his house on the ground-floor, into which he looks, and then taking a lot of biscuit, he gives a jump on to its shelving top, sits down, and begins to eat. He sits upright enough, and puts the biscuit into his mouth, but rather clumsily. He does not take it between the tips of his fingers and the thumb, but between the thumb and the side of the first finger, for the thumb is short. Hence, as the food disappears, he appears to be cramming the knuckle of his first finger into his mouth.[12]
One is struck with the colour of the face, which is nearly hairless, for the tint of its skin is a dirty yellow-ochre; but it is relieved by the beautiful white teeth, the hazel eyes, and the long hair which comes down from the top of the head in front of the ear like a lock. The upper lip has no furrow running down from the small and flat nose, but it is very large, and the mouth looks like a slit in the face when both lips are together. He has distinct eyelids; and when he sits and looks forwards, the chin reaches below the top of the breast and hides the neck. The palm of the hands is flesh-coloured, or darker, and the foot looks very strange, for the hair is long over the ankle and very black, and it ceases suddenly, so that the heel and all the sides and the sole are naked and flesh-tinted. The absence of hair on the face--there being a little straggling beard only--is possibly an ornament, and it is noticed in many Monkeys; but its absence from the under part of the hand and foot, of course, is of use, for it gives a greater power of grasp and a finer sense of touch. The front hair comes to a peak over the forehead, and the curve on either side is as graceful as that of a Queen’s Counsel’s wig; then it covers a broad low head, which looks very big behind and decidedly over-burdened with two great ears, larger than those of the Gorilla, and which are close neighbours to the high shoulders. Long black hair, with the ears peering through, covers all the back and sides of the head and the wide shoulders and very short neck, and is continued down the back, which shows no sign of a waist, and only becomes smaller just above the thighs. Here, then, is another instance of the frog-like body shape, and it is produced by the same general internal arrangements which have been noticed in the great Apes already described. That is to say, large lungs, and a great stomach and digestive apparatus, are more important than a slim and elegant figure; and good short back-bones, and at least thirteen ribs on each side are more satisfactory possessions in an African forest than long bones and a weak spine.
The arm, fore-arm, and fingers, as a limb, are long, and the tips of the fingers reach just below the knee. This is consistent with the scheme of the construction of the animal, and its adaptation for the forest life, which requires the ability to move rapidly and also to climb very easily. The arms are in constant movement when the Chimpanzee is walking, and if they are not assisting in the motion they are uplifted, the head being, moreover, carried a little forward with regard to the body. When the hands clasp a cross-bar, the little use of the small thumb is readily noticed, and the body is allowed to swing, as it were, at the full length of the arms, the thumb not assisting in holding on. But when it climbs a pole, it grasps just like a man under the same circumstances, and the thumb partly encircles the wood. It is very curious to feel the grasp of the hand, and the vigorous squeeze that the foot can give, and to look at the palms and soles. The palms seem very wrinkled across, but not to have a ball under the thumb of any size, and they seem narrow for their length. But although this is the case, and the thumb is short, they assist in grasping very forcibly. All the fingers and the thumbs have flat nails on them, which do not approach the character of a claw, and corresponding nails are found on the feet. All the heel is naked, as if it came through a hole in a stocking of black hair; and as a whole, the foot is shorter than the hand, the third toe being the longest. The toe-thumb is easily movable, and assists in climbing, for it grasps with the aid of the other toes very readily. Like the other large Apes already mentioned, it has no calf, and the legs seem to be too small for it, and to be stuck on to the body by small hips. The roundness behind is wanting, and therefore the muscles which particularly assist in the erect position are not large, as in man.
Yet at first sight there is something very human about the Chimpanzee; it looks like a very old child, and doubtless this is increased by its gentle habits and amiability; and there is every apology to be made for the early geographers and anatomists, who called it the “Pigmie.”
One of the first living Chimpanzees which was brought to England took strange dislikes to people. When it was brought on board the ship it would give its hand to be shaken by some, but refused it to others of the sailors with marks of anger, and it speedily became very familiar with the crew, except with a boy, to whom it never became reconciled. When the seamen’s mess was brought on deck, it was a constant attendant; it would go round and embrace each person, while it uttered loud yells, and then seated itself to enjoy the repast. If it was pleased at any favourite morsel, or if a piece of sweetmeat was given to it, satisfaction was expressed by a sound like a “hem,” in a grave tone; but if it was made angry or vexed, it would bark like a dog or cry like a child, and scratch itself most vehemently. It was active and cheerful in warm latitudes, but it became languid as it left the Torrid Zone, so that a blanket had to be given it as the English Channel was reached.
Bamboo, a Chimpanzee, once in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, Regent’s Park, and the subject of the following sketch, by Lieut. Sayers, “was purchased from a Mandingo, at Sierra Leone, who related that he had captured him in the Bullom country some months before, having first shot the mother, on which occasions the young ones never fail to remain by their wounded parents. On becoming mine, he was delivered over to a black boy, my servant, and in a few days became so attached to him as to be exceedingly troublesome, screaming and throwing himself into the most violent passion if he attempted to leave him for a moment. He evinced also a most strange affection for clothes, never omitting an opportunity of possessing himself of the first garment he came across, whenever he had the means of entering my apartment. He carried it immediately to the piazza, where invariably he seated himself on it with a self-satisfied grunt; nor would he resign it without a hard fight, and, on being worsted, exhibited every symptom of the greatest anger. Observing this strange fancy, I procured him a piece of cotton cloth, which, much to the amusement of all who saw him, he was never without, carrying it with him wherever he went, nor could any temptation induce him to resign it even for a moment. Totally unacquainted with their mode of living in the wild state, I adopted the following method of feeding him, which has appeared to succeed admirably. In the morning, at eight o’clock, he received a piece of bread, about the size of a halfpenny loaf, steeped in water or milk and water; about two, a couple of bananas or plantains; and before he retired for the night, a banana, orange, or slice of pine-apple. The banana appeared to be his favourite fruit; for it he would forsake all other viands, and if not gratified, would exhibit the utmost petulance. On one occasion I deemed it necessary to refuse him one, considering that he had already eaten a sufficiency, upon which he threw himself into the most violent passion, and uttering a piercing cry, knocked his head with such violence against the wall as to throw himself on his back, then ascending a chest which was near, wildly threw his arms into the air and precipitated himself from it. These actions so alarmed me for his safety that I gave up the contest, and on doing so he evinced the greatest satisfaction at his victory, uttering for several minutes the most expressive grunts and cries; in short, he exhibited, on all occasions when his will was opposed, the impatient temper of a spoilt child; but even in the height of passion I never observed any disposition to bite or otherwise ill-treat his keeper or myself.
“Although he would never object to be caressed or nursed by even a stranger, yet I never saw him evince the slightest disposition to make the acquaintance of any other animal. At the time he came into my possession I had two Patas Monkeys, and thinking they might become acquainted, I placed Mr. Bamboo in the same apartment, where he resided for five months, yet I never saw the least desire on his part to become even friendly; on the contrary, he showed evident anger and dislike at their approach. This strange attachment to the human race, and manifest dislike to all others, I have considered one of the most extraordinary features of this genus. His cunning was also remarkable. On all occasions when he thought he was unobserved, he would not fail to steal everything within his reach, for no other apparent purpose than to gratify a propensity for thieving; did he, however, even think you were looking at him, he would wait his opportunity with the greatest patience before he commenced depredation. In his habits, unlike the Monkey tribe, he was exceedingly cleanly, never soiling his bed or any place near it; and even on board ship (during the warm weather) he never failed to seek the deck, unassisted, whenever time calls of nature required it. On being left by himself in his piazza he would invariably seat himself on the window-sill, which was the highest point he could attain, and commanded a view of the barrack-yard as well as the interior of my bedroom; but at sunset he would descend, enter a washing-tub, which he had of his own accord chosen as a sleeping-place, and remain there all night; as soon, however, as the sun rose, he would never fail to occupy his favourite position on the window-ledge. From this, I should say, that trees are ascended by the Chimpanzee merely for observation or food, and that they live principally on the ground. Bamboo, at the time of purchase, appeared to be about fourteen months old, and from what I could learn from the natives, they do not reach their full growth till between nine and ten years of age; which, if true, brings them extremely near the human species, as the boy or girl of West Africa, at thirteen or fourteen years old, is quite as much a man or woman as those of nineteen or twenty in our more northern clime. Their height, when full grown, is said to be between four and five feet; indeed, I was credibly informed that a male Chimpanzee, which had been shot in the neighbourhood and brought into Free Town, measured four feet five inches in length, and was so heavy as to form a very fair load for two men, who carried him on a pole between them. The natives say that in their wild state their strength is enormous, and that they have seen them snap boughs off the trees with the greatest apparent ease, which the united strength of two men could scarcely bend. The Chimpanzee is, without doubt, to be found in all the countries, from the banks of the Gambia in the north to the kingdom of Congo in the south, as the natives of all the intermediate parts seem to be perfectly acquainted with them. From my own experience, I can state that the low shores of the Bullom country, situated on the northern shores of the river near Sierra Leone, are infested by them in numbers quite equal to the commonest species of Monkeys. I consider these animals to be gregarious; for when visiting the rice farms of the Chief Dalla Mohammadoo, on the Bullom shore, their cries plainly indicated the vicinity of a troop, as the noise heard could not have been produced by less than eight or ten of them. The natives also affirmed that they always travel in strong bodies, armed with sticks, which they use with much dexterity. They are exceedingly watchful; and the first one who discovers the approach of a stranger utters a protracted cry, much resembling that of a human being in the greatest distress. The first time I heard it I was much startled; the animal was apparently not more than thirty paces distant, but had it been but five I could not have seen it, from the tangled nature of the jungle, and I certainly conceived that such sounds could only have proceeded from a human being, who hoped to gain assistance by his cries from some terrible and instant death. The native who was with me laid his hand upon my shoulder, and pointing suspiciously to the bush, said, ‘Massa, Baboo live there!’ and in a few minutes the wood appeared alive with them, their cries resembling the barking of dogs. My guide informed me that the cry first heard was to inform the troop of my approach, and that they would all immediately leave the trees, or any exalted situation that might expose them to view, and seek the bush; he also showed evident fear, and entreated me not to proceed any further in that direction. The plantations of bananas, pampaws, and plantains, which the natives usually intermix with their rice, constituting the favourite food of the Chimpanzee, account for their being so frequent in the neighbourhood of rice fields. The difficulty of procuring live specimens of this genus arises principally, I should say, from the superstitions of the natives concerning them, who believe they possess the power of ‘witching.’”
A most interesting little male Chimpanzee was obtained from the natives of the Gambia coast some years since, and became famous in London for its great intelligence and human-like conduct. His mother was shot when he was about a twelvemonth old, about 120 miles from the sea; and after being well taken care of he was sent to England on board ship, where he had a free range of the rigging and decks, and where he made himself much liked. A distinguished zoologist, Mr. Broderip, visited him in the Zoological Gardens after he had undergone some tuition, and describes what he saw as follows:--
“I saw him for the first time in the kitchen belonging to the keepers’ apartments, dressed in a little Guernsey shirt, or banyan jacket. He was sitting child-like in the lap of a good old woman, to whom he clung whenever she made show of putting him down. His aspect was mild and passive, but that of a little withered old man, and his large eyes, hairless and crimpled visage, and man-like ears, surmounted by the black hair of his head, rendered the resemblance very striking, notwithstanding the depressed nose and the projecting mouth. He had already become very fond of his good old nurse, and she had evidently become attached to her nursling, although they had only been acquainted for three or four days, and it was with difficulty that he permitted her to go away to do her work in another part of the building. On her lap he was perfectly at his ease, and it seemed to me that he considered her as occupying the place of his mother. He was constantly reaching up with his hand to the fold of her neckerchief, though when he did so she checked him, saying, ‘No, Tommy, you must not pull the pin out.’ When not otherwise occupied, he would sit quietly in her lap, pulling his toes about with his fingers, with the same passive air as a human child exhibits when amusing himself in the same manner. I wished to examine his teeth; and when his nurse, in order to make him open his mouth, threw him back in her arm and tickled him just as she would a child, the caricature was complete.
“I offered him my ungloved hand. He took it mildly in his, with a manner equally exempt from forwardness and fear, examined it with his eyes, and perceiving a ring on one of my fingers, submitted that, and that only, to a very cautious and gentle examination with his teeth, so as not to leave any mark on the ring. I then offered him my other hand with the glove on. This he felt, looked at it, turned it about, and then tried it with his teeth. At length it became necessary for his kind nurse to leave him, and after much remonstrance on his part she put him on the floor. He would not leave her, however, and walked nearly erect by her side, holding by her gown just like a child. At last she got him away by offering him a peeled raw potato, which he ate with great relish, holding it in his right hand. His keeper, who is very attentive to him, then made his appearance, and spoke to him. Tommy evidently made an attempt to speak, gesticulating as he stood erect, protruding his lips, and making a hoarse noise like ‘hoo! hoo!’ He soon showed a disposition to play with me, jumping on his lower extremities opposite to me like a child, and looking at me with an expression indicating a wish for a game at romps. I confess I complied, and a capital game we had. On another occasion, and when he had become familiar with me, I caused, in the midst of his play, a looking-glass to be brought and held before him. His attention was constantly and strongly arrested: from the utmost activity he became immovably fixed, steadfastly gazing at the mirror with eagerness, and something like wonder depicted in his face. He at length looked up at me, then again gazed at the glass. The tips of my fingers appeared on one side as I held it; he put his hands and then his lips to them, then looked behind the glass, and finally passed his hands behind it, evidently to feel if there were anything substantial there. I presented him with a cocoa-nut, to the shell of which some bark was still adhering; the tender bud was just beginning to shoot forth--this he immediately bit off and ate. He then stripped off some of the bark with his teeth, moving it by the crust of adhering fibres round his head, darted it down, and repeatedly jumped on it with all his weight. A hole was bored in one of the eyes, and the nut again given to him, and he immediately held it up with the aperture downwards, applied his mouth to it, and sucked away at what milk there was with great glee. As I was making notes with a paper and pencil, he came up and looked at me inquisitively, testing the pencil with his teeth when he had it given to him. A trial was made of the little fellow’s courage; for when his attention was directed elsewhere, a hamper containing a large snake, called Python, was brought in and placed on a chair near the dresser. The lid was raised, and the basket in which the snake was enveloped was opened, and soon after Tommy came gambolling that way. As he jumped and danced along the dresser towards the basket he was all gaiety and life; suddenly he seemed to be taken aback, stopped, and cautiously advanced towards the basket, peered or rather craned over it, and constantly, with a gesture of horror and aversion and the cry of ‘hoo! hoo!’ recoiled from the detested object, jumped back as far as he could, and then sprang to his keeper for protection. Tommy does not like confinement, and when he is shut up in his cage, the violence with which he pulls at and shakes the door is very great, and shows considerable strength; but I have never seen him use this exertion against any other part of the cage, though his keeper has endeavoured to induce him to do so, in order to see whether he would make the distinction. When at liberty he is extremely playful; and in his high jinks, I saw him toddle into a corner where an unlucky bitch was lying with a litter of very young pups, and lay hold of one of them, till the snarling of the mother and the cries of the keeper made him put the pup down. He then climbed up to the top of the cage where the Marmosets were, and jumped furiously upon it, evidently to astonish the inmates, who huddled together, looking up at the dreadful creature over their heads. Then he went to a window, opened it and looked out. I was afraid that he might make his escape; but the words ‘Tommy, No!’ pronounced by the keeper in a mild but firm tone, caused him to shut the window and to come away. He is, in truth, a most docile and affectionate animal, and it is impossible not to be taken with the expressive gestures and looks with which he courts your good opinion, and throws himself upon you for protection against annoyance.”
Whether they grow cross and savage as they get old is not known, for no adults have been kept in captivity, but as this is usual in other Monkeys, it is probable that their interesting time of life is that of childhood, and that when the age of fun and tricks has passed there is not much else but brutality left.
Little or nothing reliable is known about the habits of the adults, and all the wickednesses of Gorillas and Baboons have been attributed to them, and, in fact, the very same stories will do for any one of them.
These stories have, however, been believed; and even Cuvier, the great comparative anatomist, wrote, that the Chimpanzees live in troops, construct themselves huts of leaves, arm themselves with sticks and stones, and employ these weapons to drive away men and Elephants from their dwellings. They did not, he believed, scruple to attack the Lion, and they were exceedingly impolite to negresses in general.
As they all, except possibly the Soko, live in a district where the forests are dense and close, there is no doubt they are rarely seen; and indeed reliable travellers do not hesitate to say that a white man has never seen them in a state of nature, except by obtaining a glance as they rush off on being surprised. All the stories must, therefore, be received with suspicion, as tainted with the results of African fear and love of the wonderful; especially as they come from the negro race living in the remarkable tract of country extending along the West Coast from the river Gambia to some distance north of Angola, and thence into the interior to the little known regions between the hills which run parallel with the sea many miles inland, and the country of the large lakes far away to the East.
Gifted with wonderful agility and no little power of imitation and intelligence, and possessed of very acute senses and ability to unite the actions of many groups of muscles to a common purpose, the Chimpanzee must have a well-formed nervous system--that is to say, a good brain and spinal cord. A brain to originate or commence actions, and the cord of nerves to carry the orders of the brain to the limbs. Measured over the brain case of the skull, that of the Chimpanzee has a bulk of about one-half of that of man, and less than that of the Gorilla; but the brain itself has striking resemblances to that of man. The principal folds which are noticed on the human brain exist in the Chimpanzee, but they are simpler in their foldings, and are large in proportion to the whole. This means that there is not as much nerve structure packed in a given space as there is in man; and the distinction is most important, for the greater the packing the greater the nervous energy and power. But the parts of the brain which have especially to do with the movements of the body, and their regulations and adaptations, are very well formed; and it is the comparative deficiency in those parts which have a mysterious relation with the intelligence, instinct, and the mind which causes the brain of the Chimpanzee to differ in appearance and size from that of man. But in both the brain proper over-laps and covers the cerebellum or little brain. The nerves are well formed and large.
It seems that the brain of the Chimpanzee never has a chance of increasing in size, for after a certain age the bones of the brain case become, as it were, soldered together.
The Chimpanzee has a famous pair of shoulders, a broad back, and, like the Gorilla, a very short neck. Its weight is less than that of the greatest of Apes, and therefore it does not require such huge muscles for climbing. The great bony spines of the neck-bones are smaller; and the bones of the upper part of the spine are not made as strongly.
Loving much to hang by the hands, with the arms stretched out above the head, the Chimpanzee has the blade-bone more like that of an ordinary Monkey, and less like that of man and the Gorilla, and its muscles are so placed as to permit of their acting readily when this position is kept up. As this position is extremely easy and useful, it is assisted by the animal’s having a short and stout collar-bone. Its arm-bone is tolerably near the length of that of man, but it is like a Gorilla’s in miniature. The bones of the fore-arm (the radius and ulna), instead of being shorter than the arm-bone, equal it in length, and the last named is much bent, so as to give a large surface for the muscles which supply the hand and wrist.
As a whole, the hand of the Chimpanzee is, in proportion to the size of the animal, larger than that of the Gorilla, but the thumb is shorter, and this makes it more Monkey-like than human; and the same may be said of the lower limbs, for the thigh-bone and those of the leg, although greatly resembling those of the Gorilla, have many peculiarities which make them resemble those of the less important Monkeys. Finally, with regard to the foot, that of the Chimpanzee is more Monkeyish than that of the Gorilla. The great Ape’s foot has many peculiarities which make it differ from that of man, and these are all magnified, as it were, in the Chimpanzee, whose foot, therefore, is all the more unlike ours. It is especially adapted for grasping and climbing, and less well suited for occasionally standing erect and walking. Its heel is short and slender, and the toe-thumb is smaller, and the whole foot is slenderer, than the Gorilla’s. Moreover, it is more turned in.
When young, there are no crests on the head, but with age a small one grows on each side in front, running from about the centre of each side of the brow ridge over the receding forehead, and joining together in the middle line, close to the top of the skull. This meets a larger and stronger one, which is a miniature of the head crest of the Gorilla, and which reaches from ear to ear. The use is probably for the attachment of the masticating muscles at the side, and for that of the muscles of the neck behind; but it is also a kind of ornament of the males.
Strong as this Ape is in its loins, from its extra ribs, the hip-bones seem narrow from side to side; and one of the causes of this is interesting, not only because it is also noticed in the other great Apes, but also because it is one of their marked distinctions from man.
The pieces of the back-bone (or vertebræ), as they pass between the hip-bones behind, unite them together, and degenerate until they form the curious little tail-end of the back-bone, which in us, and in the Apes, is curled slightly, with the concave part of the bend forward. The pieces unite strongly to each other above and below, and form really one bone, which is called the sacrum. Now, if these pieces were nearly or quite as stout and broad as those higher up, the hips would be wide apart; but if they become narrow, the hips will be all the closer together. In man, the pieces are broad, and the sacrum, as a whole, is so also, and the hips are widely separate; but the reverse is the case in the Apes.
This difference in the breadth of the bone and the width of the hip has evidently to do with the maintenance of the erect posture in man, and the inability to keep erect for long, and comfortably, by these great Apes. The larger the surface of the sacrum, the greater is the mass of muscle passing to the back and downwards; and this is small in comparison in the Chimpanzee.
Where the proper vertebræ of the sacrum end--that is to say, the pieces of the back-bone which are placed between the hip (ilium) bones--the tail begins. It is made up of three stunted bones, which are something like ill-made back-bone pieces (vertebræ); they are usually inseparably joined together to make a special bone, which is broad above, and tapering below. This bone, the rudiment of the tail, which, from some fancied resemblance to a Cuckoo’s back, has been called the cuckoo-bone (os coccygis), is covered by skin and embedded in muscles, which do not allow it to stick out visibly even as a stump; for its tip is curled inwards. This apology for the member which is so vastly important in many Monkeys is narrow in the man-like Apes, the black Chimpanzee included; but it is a little wider in man, although the general construction is the same. Could these bones--which, by their being united, form this rudiment of a tail--be disunited and increased in number, stuck out, and covered with skin and muscles, something like the very Monkey-like appendage would be formed. But noble tails are not the gifts of the higher Apes, as they are called, from their many points of resemblance in structure with man, and even in the smaller Monkeys they are extremely variable belongings, being given to one kind and not to another in a manner far beyond our philosophy.
The Chimpanzee has a long palate, like the other great Apes of the West African woods. Moreover, it has a uvula in the back of the throat, and the back of the tongue is marked with great papillæ, which take up the shape of a T. It does not do more than grunt “hem,” and bark after a fashion; and the use of some great air-pouches, which resemble those of the Gorilla, are therefore not very apparent. But the bony structures of the palate are interesting, for at the back of it they do not form a simple knob, as in the Gorilla, but resemble those of man, and there is a little prominence, with a festoon curve on each side.
It lives upon vegetable food, and its teeth are admirably suited for it; they are of the same number as those of the rest of the great man-shaped Apes, and do not differ very much from them. The front teeth are large, and project, and do not bite very up and down on the tips, so they wear behind quicker than in front, their general shape being rather peculiar and distinctive. Female Chimpanzees have smaller eye-teeth than the males, and all have them with a sharp edge behind, so that they can cut a pine-apple as well as pierce it. Behind them are the pre-and true molars, but the last tooth of the upper jaw looks small, for its hinder projections or cusps are small. In the lower jaw the last tooth has a fifth cusp, but it is smaller proportionately than in the lower Monkeys; and the first pre-molar has its front and outer angle stuck out very much after the fashion of the Baboons. Now these are little matters, which do not appear to have anything to do with causes and effects, the adaptation of means to ends, or which do not enable the creature to chew and crush its food a bit the less well, or better than others; they refer to some hidden mystery which unites apparently very different animals together in the scheme of creation. Thus the Chimpanzee has human-like, Gorilla-like, Baboon-like, and other Monkey-like peculiarities, so far as the teeth are concerned, and yet which do not interfere with the successful mastication of the food. We may make theories about them of supreme interest, which may explain why animals are alike and unlike, and how the structures of superior animals were foreshadowed in those of lower ones, and the structures of the latter in those of still simpler forms of life.
It is the great front teeth, the large space hidden by the visible nose, the prominent upper, and the great length of the lower jaw, which give such a Baboon-like appearance to the face of the Chimpanzee’s skull; and this is interesting, for there may have been a kinship between the two tribes.
These man-shaped Apes, the Gorilla, the Nschiego Mbouvé, the Koolo-Kamba, the Soko, and the Chimpanzee, form a group of beings which is peculiarly situated geographically, and which is separated from all others by anatomical differences. Their home is in Equatorial Africa, from the Western Sea to the Great Lakes near the eastern side of the Continent, and none of the kinds composing it have ever been found out of this range. Their bones have not been found in caves or in the state of fossils anywhere, so they must be regarded as essentially African. The group clings to forest and jungle, and its members lead very much the same kind of lives, for they are all vegetarians, liking quietude, and either roaming singly or in pairs, or living in troops. There is no evidence whatever that any of these species of Troglodytes have ever wandered; and it must be admitted that they have lived where they are now found ever since the country has been as it is, as regards its physical geography and peculiar climate. As regards their anatomical distinctness from other beings, they may be separated from man on the one hand, and from the Monkeys, which form the subject of the next chapters, on the other. They are linked together as a group by many resemblances in their construction, although there are differences enough to distinguish kind from kind. From man they one and all differ in the shape of the head, the size of the brain case, the nature of the palate, the shape of the jaws, and in the last lower molar teeth and tooth-spaces. Their head-ridges, the shape and length of their limbs, and the nature of their thumbs and toe-thumbs are very distinctive. The great air-pouches, the shape of the chest, the extra ribs, and the shape of the hip-girdle, cause them to differ much from man; and their brain is, as it were, dwarfed and infantile.[13]
Chapter III
THE MAN-SHAPED APES (continued)--Genus Simia--THE ORANG-UTAN.
Origin of the Name--Description of the Orang--Rajah Brooke’s First Specimen--Mr. Wallace’s Experiences in Mias Hunting--The Home of the Mias--A Mias at Bay--Their Nests, Habits, Food, and Localities--Different kinds of Orangs--Structural Points--The Intelligence and Habits of the Young--The Brain and its Case--Resemblances and Differences of Old and Young.
THE ORANG-UTAN.[14]
The Malays call their chiefs Orangs, and the word relates to the intelligence of those called by it, meaning “a rational being.” They apply it also to their Elephants, and to the great Ape of Sumatra and Borneo. Utan, or as some spell it, Oetan (utang being wrong), means wild, or “of the woods;” and hence the conjoined words may be translated by what the natives really mean, “the wild man of the wood.” There are two kinds of Orang-utan, and both are, to a certain extent, man-like, the resemblance being greatest in the females and in the young, and diminishing as the males grow older.
All have long ruddy-brown hair, the tinge being decidedly red, a dark face, with small eyes, small nose, and great projecting jaws. The hair comes over the forehead and backwards over the neck; it is long on the limbs, and points downwards on the upper and upwards on the lower arm. It covers the back, and seat, and legs, standing out often, and gives a very wiry look to the fur. What strikes one directly on looking at a well-stuffed specimen of an old male, for instance, is the great length of the fore-limbs, which reach far towards the ankle, the length of the muzzle, and the extraordinary breadth of the face under the eyes, where the flatness resembles a mask more than a natural growth. In the females and young this growth of the cheek-bone and its covering of fat and skin are not seen; and it appears to be a mark of male beauty, as are also two sets of ridges on the skull, which greatly resemble those of the Gorilla.
Rajah Brooke, whose name will always be associated with Borneo, took great interest in Orang-utan hunting, principally with a view to decide how many kinds there were; and his first impressions on killing his first large one were excited by the prominent peculiarities just noticed. The first male he killed was seated lazily on a tree, and when the people approached he only took the trouble to hide behind the trunk, peeping first on one side and then on the other, and “dodging,” as the Rajah did the same. He was wounded in the wrist, and afterwards was despatched. The Rajah wrote to the Zoological Society of London as follows:--“Great was our triumph as we gazed on the huge animal dead at our feet, and proud were we of having shot the first Orang we had seen, and shot him in his native woods, in a Borneo forest hitherto untrodden by European feet. We were struck with the length of his arms, the enormous neck, the expanse of face, which altogether gave the impression of great height, whereas it was only great power. The hair was long, reddish, and thin; the face remarkably broad and fleshy, and on each side, in the place of a man’s whiskers, were the callosities, or rather fleshy protuberances, which I was so desirous to see, and which were nearly two inches in thickness. The ears were small and well shaped, the nose quite flat, the mouth prominent, the lips thick, the eyes small and roundish, the teeth large and discoloured, the face and hands black--these last being very powerful. This animal was four feet one inch in height, and its fore limb was three feet five inches and three-quarters in length; the width of the face, moreover, being as much as one foot one inch.”
“Whilst the fore limb was so long, the lower limb, from the hip to the heel, only measured one foot nine inches; and hence there is great disproportion between the limbs, the legs and feet appearing dwarfed in comparison.”
The Rajah considered the Orangs to be as dull and slothful as one could conceive, and on no occasion, when pursuing them, did they move so fast as to preclude his keeping pace with them easily through a moderately clear forest, and even when obstructions below (such as wading up to the neck) enabled them to get away some distance, they were sure to stop and allow the hunters to come up. He never observed any attempt at defiance; and the wood which sometimes rattled about his ears was broken by their weight, and not thrown down, as some people imagine to be the case.
If pushed to extremity, the large male with crests on its head (which is called “Pappan”), could be formidable; and one unfortunate man, who, with a party, was trying to catch a large one alive, lost two of his fingers, besides being severely bitten in the face, whilst the animal finally beat off its pursuers. When the natives wish to catch an adult, they cut down a circle of trees round the one on which he is seated, and then fell that also, and close before he can recover himself, and try to bind him. The Rajah also notices the little dread the natives have of them, and that they form seats rather than nests in the trees.
These observations regarding their habits have been slightly opposed by Mr. Wallace, whose descriptions of Orang--or, as he prefers to call it, from the Dyak language, Mias--hunting and of their habits are undoubtedly the most reliable.
Wallace spent a long time in the islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra; and one of his principal objects in visiting the first especially was to obtain an insight as to the nature and life of the great man-like Apes of the country. After some time spent in hunting, he succeeded in shooting a full-grown male Orang-utan, and he describes the scene as follows:--
“I had just come home from an entomologising excursion, when Charles rushed in, out of breath with running and excitement, and exclaimed, interrupted by gasps, ‘Get the gun, sir--be quick--such a large Mias!’ ‘Where is it?’ I asked, taking hold of my gun as I spoke, which happened luckily to have one barrel loaded with ball. ‘Close by, sir--on the path to the mines; he can’t get away.’ Two Dyaks chanced to be in the house at the time, so I called them to accompany me, and started off, telling Charley to bring all the ammunition after me as soon as possible. The path from our clearing to the mines led along the side of the hill, a little way up its slope, and parallel with it at the foot a wide opening had been made for a road, in which several Chinamen were working, so that the animal could not escape into the swampy forest below without descending to cross the road, or ascending to get round the clearing. We walked cautiously along, not making the least noise, and listening attentively for any sound which might betray the presence of the Mias, stopping at intervals to gaze upwards. Charley soon joined us at the place where he had seen the creature, and having taken the ammunition, and put a bullet in the other barrel, we dispersed a little, feeling sure that it must be somewhere near, as it had probably descended the hill, and would not be likely to return again. After a short time I heard a very slight rustling sound overhead, but on gazing up could see nothing. I moved about in every direction, to get a full view into every part of the tree under which I had been standing, when I again heard the same noise, but louder, and saw the leaves shaking, as if caused by the motion of some heavy animal, which moved off to an adjoining tree. I immediately shouted for all of them to come up and try and get a view, so as to allow me to have a shot. This was not an easy matter, as the Mias had a knack of selecting places with dense foliage beneath. Very soon, however, one of the Dyaks called me and pointed upwards, and on looking I saw a great red hairy body and a huge black face gazing down from a great height, as if wanting to know what was making such a disturbance below. I instantly fired, and he made off at once, so that I could not then tell whether I had hit him. He now moved very rapidly and very noiselessly for so large an animal, so I told the Dyaks to follow and keep him in sight while I loaded. The jungle was here full of large angular fragments of rock from the mountain above, and thick with hanging and twisting creepers. Running, climbing, and creeping among these, we came up with the creature on the top of a high tree near the road, where the Chinamen had discovered him, and were shouting their astonishment with open mouth: ‘Ya, ya, Tuan! Orang-utan, Tuan!’ Seeing that he could not pass here without descending, he turned up again towards the hill, and I got two shots, and following quickly had two more by the time he had again reached the path; but he was almost more or less concealed by foliage, and protected by the large branch on which he was walking. Once while loading I had a splendid view of him, moving along a large limb of a tree in a semi-erect posture, and showing him to be an animal of the largest size. At the path he got on to one of the loftiest trees in the forest, and we could see one leg hanging down useless, having been broken by a ball. He now fixed himself in a fork, where he was hidden by thick foliage, and seemed disinclined to move. I was afraid he would remain and die in this position, and as it was nearly evening I could not have got the tree cut down that day. I therefore fired again, and he then moved off, and going up the hill was obliged to get on to some lower trees, on the branches of one of which he fixed himself in such a position that he could not fall, and lay all in a heap, as if dead or dying. I now wanted the Dyaks to go up and cut off the branch he was resting on, but they were afraid, saying he was not dead, and would come and attack them. We then shook the adjoining tree, pulled the hanging creepers, and did all we could to disturb him, but without effect; so I thought it best to send for two Chinamen with axes to cut down the tree. While the messenger was gone, however, one of the Dyaks took courage and climbed towards him, but the Mias did not wait for him to get near, moving off to another tree, where he got on to a dense mass of branches and creepers, which almost completely hid him from our view. The tree was luckily a small one, so when the axes came we soon had it cut through; but it was so held up by jungle ropes and climbers to adjoining trees that it only fell into a sloping position. The Mias did not move, and I began to fear that, after all, we should not get him, as it was near evening, and half-a-dozen more trees would have to be cut down before the one he was on would fall. As a last resource we all began pulling at the creepers, which shook the tree very much; and, after a few minutes, when we had almost given up all hopes, down he came with a crash and a thud like the fall of a giant. And he was a giant, his head and body being full as large as a man’s. He was of the kind called by the Dyaks ‘Mias Chapyian,’ or ‘Mias Pappan,’ which has the skin of the face broadened out to a ridge or fold at each side. His outstretched arms measured seven feet three inches across, and his height, measuring fairly from the top of the head to the heel, was four feet two inches. The body just below the arms was three feet two inches round, and was quite as long as a man’s, the legs being exceedingly short in proportion. On examination we found he had been dreadfully wounded. Both legs were broken, one hip-joint and the root of the spine completely shattered, and two bullets were found flattened in his neck and jaws; yet he was still alive when he fell. The two Chinamen carried him home tied to a pole; and I was occupied with Charley the whole of the next day, preparing the skin and boiling the bones, to make a perfect skeleton, which are now preserved in the museum at Derby.”
The following description from the same author gives an excellent idea of the nature of the country inhabited by another Orang, and of its Monkey companions:--
“After a few miles, the stream became very narrow and winding, and the whole country on each side was flooded. On the banks were abundance of Monkeys--the common Macacus cynomolgus, a black Semnopithecus, and the extraordinary Long-nosed Monkey (Nasalis larvatus), which is as large as a three-year-old child, has a very long tail, and a fleshy nose, longer than that of the biggest-nosed man. The further we went on the narrower and more winding the stream became; fallen trees sometimes blocked up our passage, and sometimes tangled branches and creepers met completely across it, and had to be cut away before we could get on. It took us two days to reach Semábanga, and we hardly saw a bit of dry land all the way. In the latter part of the journey I could touch the bushes on each side for miles; and we were often delayed by the screw-pines (Pandanus) which grew abundantly in the water, falling across the stream. In other places dense rafts of floating grass completely filled up the channel, making our journey a constant succession of difficulties. The mountain or hill was close by, covered with a complete forest of fruit-trees, among which the Durion and Mangosteen were very abundant; but the fruit was not yet quite ripe, except a little here and there. I spent a week at this place, going out every day in various directions about the mountain, accompanied by a Malay, who had stayed with me while the other boatmen returned. For three days we found no Orangs, but shot a Deer and several Monkeys. On the fourth day, however, we found a Mias feeding on a very lofty Durion tree, and succeeded in killing it, after eight shots. Unfortunately it remained in the tree, hanging by its hands, and we were obliged to leave it and return home, as it was several miles off. As I felt pretty sure it would fall during the night, I returned to the place early the next morning, and found it on the ground beneath the tree. To my astonishment and pleasure, it appeared to be a different kind from any I had yet seen; for although a full-grown male, by its fully-developed teeth and very large canines, it had no sign of the lateral protuberance on the face, and was about one-tenth smaller than the other adult males. The upper incisors, however, appeared to be broader than in the larger species, a character distinguishing the Simia morio of Professor Owen, which he has described from the skull of a female specimen. As it was too far to carry the animal home, I set to work and skinned the body on the spot, leaving the head, hands, and feet attached, to be finished at home. This specimen is now in the British Museum.”
The Mias, as stated by Rajah Brooke, will turn upon an antagonist when hard pressed, and with no small bravery and ferocity; and this was satisfactorily proved by Mr. Wallace, who tells the following story:--
“About ten days after this, on June 4th, some Dyaks came to tell me that the day before a Mias had nearly killed one of their companions. A few miles down the river there is a Dyak house, and the inhabitants saw a large Orang feeding on the young shoots of a palm by the river side. On being alarmed he retreated towards the jungle, which was close by, and a number of the men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept him. The man who was in front tried to run his spear through the animal’s body, but the Mias seized it in his hands, and in an instant got hold of the man’s arm, which he seized in his mouth, making his teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated in a dreadful manner. Had not the others been close behind, the man would have been more seriously injured, if not killed, as he was quite powerless; but they soon destroyed the creature with their spears and choppers. The man remained ill for a long time, and never fully recovered the use of his arm. They told me the dead Mias was still lying where it had been killed, so I offered them a reward to bring it up to our landing-place immediately, which they promised to do. They did not come, however, till the next day, and then decomposition had commenced, and great patches of the hair came off, so that it was useless to skin it. This I regretted much, as it was a very fine, full-grown male. I cut off the head and took it home to clean, while I got my men to make a close fence, about five feet high, round the rest of the body, which would soon be devoured by maggots, small lizards, and ants, leaving me the skeleton.”
On another occasion Mr. Wallace had an opportunity of observing the nest, or rather nest-making, which is performed by these animals when severely wounded. “He was called by a Chinaman working in Borneo to shoot a Mias which, he said, was on a tree close by his house at the coal-mines. Arriving at the place, we had some difficulty in finding the animal, as he had gone off into the jungle, which was very rocky and difficult to traverse. At last we found him up a very high tree, and could see that he was a male of the largest size. As soon as I had fired, he moved higher up the tree, and while he was doing so I fired again; and we then saw that one arm was broken. He had now reached the very highest part of an immense tree, and immediately began breaking off boughs all around, and laying them across and across to make a nest. It was very interesting to see how well he had chosen his place, and how rapidly he stretched out his unwounded arm in every direction, breaking off good-sized boughs with the greatest ease, and laying them back across each other, so that in a few minutes he had formed a compact mass of foliage, which entirely concealed him from our sight. He was evidently going to pass the night here, and would probably get away early the next morning, if not wounded too severely. I therefore fired again several times, in hopes of making him leave his nest; but, though I felt sure I had hit him, as at each shot he moved a little, he would not go away. At length he raised himself up, so that half his body was visible, and then gradually sank down, his head alone remaining on the edge of the nest. I now felt sure he was dead, and tried to persuade the Chinaman and his companion to cut down the tree; but it was a very large one, and they had been at work all day, and nothing would induce them to attempt it. The next morning, at daybreak, I came to the place, and found that the Mias was evidently dead, as his head was visible in exactly the same position as before.”
There is every reason to believe that the Mias, or Orang-utan, is confined to the two great islands of Sumatra and Borneo, in the former of which, however, it seems to be much more rare. In Borneo it has a wide range, inhabiting many districts on the south-west, south-east, north-east, and north-west coasts, but appears to be chiefly confined to the low and swampy forests. It seems, at first sight, very inexplicable that the Mias should be quite unknown in the Saráwak valley, while it is abundant in Sambas, on the west, and Sádong, on the east; but when we know the habits and mode of life of the animal, we see a sufficient reason for this apparent anomaly in the physical features of the Saráwak district. Where Mr. Wallace observed the Mias it was where the country is low, level, and swampy, and at the same time covered with a lofty virgin forest. Many isolated mountains, on some of which the Dyaks have settled, are close by, and are covered with plantations of fruit-trees. These are a great attraction to the Mias, which comes to feed on the fruits, but always retires to the swamp at night. When the country becomes slightly elevated, and the soil dry, the Mias is no longer to be found. For example, in all the lower parts of the Sádong valley it abounds, but as soon as we ascend above the limits of the tides, where the country, though still flat, is high enough to be dry, it disappears. Now, the Saráwak valley has this peculiarity: the lower portion, though swampy, is not covered with continuous lofty forests, but is principally occupied by the Nipa palm; and near the town of Saráwak, where the country becomes dry, it is greatly undulated in many parts, and covered with small patches of virgin forest and much second-growth jungle, on ground which has once been cultivated by the Malays or Dyaks. “Now it seems to me,” writes the same author, “that a wide extent of unbroken and equally lofty virgin forest is necessary to the comfortable existence of these animals. Such forests form their open country, where they can roam in every direction, with as much facility as the Indian on the prairie or the Arab on the desert; passing from tree-top to tree-top without ever being obliged to descend upon the earth. The elevated and the drier districts are more frequented by man, and are more cut up by clearings and low second-growth jungle. They are not adapted to its peculiar mode of progression, and they would be more exposed to danger, and more frequently obliged to descend upon the earth in such places. There is probably also a greater variety of fruit in the Mias district, the small mountains which rise like islands out of it serving as a sort of gardens or plantations. It is a singular and very interesting sight to watch a Mias making his way leisurely through the forest. He walks deliberately along some of the larger branches in the semi-erect attitude, which the great length of his arms and the shortness of his legs cause him naturally to assume; and the disproportion between these limbs is increased by his walking on his knuckles, not on the palm of the hand, as we should do. He seems always to choose those branches which intermingle with an adjoining tree, on approaching which he stretches out his long arms, and seizing the opposing boughs, grasps them together with both hands, seems to try their strength, and then deliberately swings himself across to the next branch on which he walks along as before. He never jumps or springs, or even appears to hurry himself, and yet manages to get along almost as quickly as a person can run through the forest beneath. The long and powerful arms are of the greatest use to the animal, enabling it to climb easily up the loftiest trees, to seize fruits and young leaves from slender boughs which will not bear its weight, and to gather leaves and branches with which to form its nest.”
Mr. Wallace, who described how it forms a nest when wounded, states “that it uses a similar one to sleep in almost every night. This is placed low down, however, on a small tree, not more than from twenty to fifty feet from the ground, probably because it is warmer and less exposed to wind than higher up. Each Mias is said to make a fresh one for himself every night; but I should think that is hardly probable, or their remains would be much more abundant; for though I saw several about the coal-mines, there must have been many Orangs about every day, and in a year their deserted nests would become very numerous. The Dyaks say that when it is very wet the Mias covers himself over with leaves of Pandanus, or large ferns, which has, perhaps, led to the story of his making a hut in the trees. The Orang does not leave his bed till the sun has well risen and has dried up the dew upon the leaves. He feeds all through the middle of the day, but seldom returns to the same tree two days running. They do not seem much alarmed at man, as they often stared down upon me for several minutes, and they only moved away slowly to an adjacent tree. After seeing one, I have often had to go half a mile or more to fetch my gun, and in nearly every case have found it on the same tree, or within a hundred yards, when I returned. I never saw two full-grown animals together, but both males and females are sometimes accompanied by half-grown young ones, while, at other times, three or four young ones were seen in company. Their food consists almost exclusively of fruit, with occasional leaves, buds, and young shoots. They seem to prefer unripe fruits, some of which were very sour, others intensely bitter, particularly the large red fleshy arillus, or rind of one, which seemed an especial favourite. In other cases they eat only the small seed of a large fruit, and they almost always waste and destroy more than they eat, so that there is a continual rain of rejected portions below the tree they are feeding on. The Durion is an especial favourite, and quantities of this delicious fruit are destroyed wherever it grows surrounded by forest, but they will not cross clearings to get at them. It seems wonderful how the animal can tear open this fruit, the outer covering of which is so thick and tough, and closely covered with strong conical spines. It probably bites off a few of these first, and then, making a small hole, tears open the fruit with its powerful fingers. The Mias rarely descends to the ground, except when, pressed by hunger, it seeks for succulent shoots by the river side; or, in very dry weather, has to search after water, of which it generally finds sufficient in the hollows of leaves. Once only I saw two half-grown Orangs on the ground, in a dry hollow at the foot of the Simunjou Hill. They were playing together, standing erect, and grasping each other by the arms. It may be safely stated, however, that the Orang never walks erect, unless when using its hands to support itself by branches overhead, or when attacked. Representations of its walking with a stick are entirely imaginary. The Dyaks all declare that the Mias is never attacked by any animal in the forest, with two rare exceptions; and the accounts I received of these are so curious, that I give them nearly in the words of my informants, old Dyak chiefs, who had lived all their lives in the places where the animal is most abundant. The first of whom I inquired said:--‘No animal is strong enough to hurt the Mias, and the only creature he ever fights with is the Crocodile. When there is no fruit in the jungle, he goes to seek food on the banks of the river, where there are plenty of young shoots that he likes, and fruits that grow close to the water. Then the Crocodile sometimes tries to seize him, but the Mias gets upon him, and beats him with his hands and feet, and tears him, and kills him.’ He added that he had once seen such a fight, and that he believes that the Mias is always the victor. My next informant was the Orang Kaya, or chief of the Balow Dyaks, on the Simunjou River. He said: ‘The Mias has no enemies; no animals dare attack it but the Crocodile and the Python. He always kills the Crocodile by main strength, standing upon it, pulling open its jaws, and ripping up its throat. If a Python attacks a Mias, he seizes it with his hands, and then bites it, and soon kills it. The Mias is very strong; there is no animal in the jungle so strong as he.’”
It is very remarkable that an animal so large, so peculiar, and of such a high type of form as the Orang-utan, should be confined to so limited a district--to two islands, and those almost the last inhabited by the higher Mammalia; but in the Mid-Tertiary Period, and just before the formation of the Himalayan Mountains, Orangs lived on the continent of India, and their remains have been found fossilised. With what interest must every naturalist look forward to the time when the caves and Tertiary deposits of the tropics may be thoroughly examined, and the past history and earliest appearance of the great man-like Apes be at length made known!
The Orang-utans appear, from what has been written by all competent observers, to be of two kinds, the one larger, and the other smaller in stature; the first is called Simia satyrus, and the other Simia morio. Simia is translated in old Latin dictionaries as an Ape, or Jackanapes, and the term was used to designate the tribe or genus which should include all the species or kinds of man-shaped Apes. But after a while there was thought to be sufficient reasons for separating the Troglodytes from the genus Simia, and therefore this last-named one, instead of comprising the Gorilla, the Nschiego, the Koolo, the Soko, and the Chimpanzee, has but the Orang-utan.
Why this separation should have taken place is of course a very natural question, and the answer is that there are sufficient differences in the construction of the Orangs and the Chimpanzees and the others to warrant it. There is a greater structural difference between the Orang and the Chimpanzee than between this last and any of its congeners, that is to say, species included in the genus Troglodytes.
Moreover, on examining several skulls and skeletons of all these kinds, it seems as if, whilst the African Troglodytes may have descended from a common ancestor, probably a Baboon, the Orang-utan could not have come from the same stock.
There are some important distinctions in the anatomy of the Orang, some of which are evidently produced by adaptation to a particular habit or mode of life, and others in which the results of cause and effect cannot be traced.
In making its way through the forest, and in climbing so constantly that any position on the ground is rare, the great length of the fore limbs is of immense use to them. They nearly touch the ground, so long are they, when the creature is erect, and this peculiarity separates them from the Chimpanzees. In climbing, the blade-bone is of great importance; and in the Orang it is broader, and more like that of man than in the Chimpanzee and Gorilla, and its spine is inclined upwards; and one of the processes of the blade-bone which has to do with the muscles which pass from the shoulder to the arm, and which is called the coracoid, is more inclined downwards than in the Apes already described. Now, the blade-bone of the Chimpanzee and its coracoid are admirably adapted for climbing; why are they not, therefore, exactly like those of the Orang, and vice versâ? This is not a difference produced by adaptation of means to ends, but one which relates to the origin of the two animals, and to those which preceded them. The same is the case in respect of the wrist of the Orang. It has one bone more than the Chimpanzee, which has the same number as in other Troglodytes, and in man also. This bone is fixed in between the two rows of the bones of the wrist, and is called the “intermediate,” and is found in the Monkeys which are below the Orang in the animal scale. It is an offshoot of the scaphoid bone.
Oddly enough, although the number of the ribs of the Troglodytes is thirteen, and probably in one of them there are fourteen, there are only twelve in the Orang; and the breast-bone, which consists of a large upper bone and several smaller ones (united above and below to each other, in the Troglodytes), has these bones separate and halved, as it were, sideways in the Orang, resembling in it the condition of the bones of the immature man. In the Troglodytes the round top of the thigh-bone, where it fits into its socket, the hip, has a kind of rope-like ligament attaching the one bone to the other, but this does not exist in the Orang. The knee-cap is very small, and the heel-bone hardly projects backwards in the Orang, and the “toe-thumb” sticks out at right angles from the foot, being about one-quarter of its length. The Orang is a great climber, and rarely, if ever, walks on its sole, which the Chimpanzee can do slightly. The general appearance and the nature of the movements of the foot of the Orang is that of a thin “club foot.” All the turning-in of the bones of the foot in the Chimpanzee is exaggerated in the Orang, whose toe-thumbs are capable of great activity. Tame Orangs may be noticed to use the foot, which is longer than the lower leg, in climbing, as perfectly as the hand; and it appears that the frequency of their movements of grasping, rather than of delicate prehension, tends to the last joint of the “toe-thumb” becoming small and losing its nail.
A huge air-pouch is packed away in front of the windpipe and amongst the muscles of the neck, as in the Apes already noticed, and it commences in the so-called ventricles of the larynx. Its extension amongst the upper muscles of the chest is most remarkable, for when full of air, these being relaxed, it must blow out the upper part of the body and neck in a singular manner.
One of the muscles of the chest, common to man and Apes, the great pectoral (pectoralis major)--which has already been noticed as springing from the ribs, the breast and collar-bone, and to be attached in front of the groove in the upper arm-bone--is not a continuous sheet of muscular fibre as in man, but is divided into a number of bundles, there being at least three great ones. Now, it is between these and in their intervals that the vast laryngeal air-pouch is found on the chest. Great as it is, however, it does not appear to have anything to do with the voice, except, perhaps, to produce resonance during distension.
The muscles of the hips, thigh, and leg-bones of the Orang cannot be distinguished generally from those of the Chimpanzee; but it is evident that the position of some is such as to make straightening of the knee very difficult, and on the contrary, they assist jumping and climbing, or any movement in which it can be kept permanently bent. As it is most convenient for the foot of the Orang to be well expanded during climbing or holding on, and not for its bones to be too much forced together sideways, the animal is deficient in a muscle which exists in man,[15] and which stretches transversely across, between the ends of the metatarsal bones. In like manner the inability of the thumb to perform many separate actions is produced by the absence of the flexor muscle; but there is a slip of a muscle whose tendon reaches the first joint, and its office is to oppose the thumb, not to the palm of the hand, but to the first joint of the second finger. This is a monkeyish peculiarity.
The animal, using as it does its short toe-thumb for grasping forcibly, requires all the power possible to be exercised between its bones and those of the ankle. Hence it has a muscle which exists in the hand but not in the foot of man, and which, from its drawing the bones together, is called the opponens (of the great toe). This does not appear to exist in the Troglodytes.
The other most important peculiarities of the muscles which relate to the greater but less independent movement of the toes and fingers, are the connection of the long flexor of the “toe-thumb” with the lower and outer part of the thigh-bone, and the possession of a complete set of deep extensor muscles for the four outer fingers. The extensor of the first, and the corresponding muscle of the little finger, subdivide to supply the third and fourth. This is the case in the next group of Apes also, but in the Troglodytes each of these muscles has but a single tendon.[16]
Before considering the anatomy of the brain, skull, and the inside of the Orang, it is as well to become aware of some of its peculiarities when young, and in a state of captivity.
Several young Orang-utans have been brought to Europe and exhibited, to the delight of every one who saw them, but Mr. Wallace was fortunate enough to obtain one in its native haunts, and to observe it in its own climate. After shooting a female Mias, he found a little tiny one, lying face downwards, in the swamp where they were. “It was only about a foot long,” writes Mr. Wallace, “and had evidently been hanging to its mother when she first fell. Luckily, it did not appear to have been wounded, and after we had cleaned the mud out of its mouth it began to cry out, and seemed quite strong and active. While carrying it home it got its hands in my beard, and grasped so tightly, that I had great difficulty in getting free, for the fingers are habitually bent inwards at the last joint, so as to form complete hooks. At this time it had not a single tooth, but a few days afterwards it cut its two lower front teeth. Unfortunately, I had no milk to give it, as neither Malays, Chinese, nor Dyaks ever use the article, and I in vain inquired for any female animal that could suckle my little infant. I was therefore obliged to give it rice-water from a bottle, with a quill in the cork, which after a few trials it learned to suck very well. This was very meagre diet, and the little creature did not thrive well on it, although I added sugar and cocoa-nut milk occasionally, to make it more nourishing. When I put my finger in its mouth it sucked with great vigour, drawing in its cheeks with all its might in the vain effort to extract some milk, and only after persevering a long time would it give up in disgust, and set up a scream very like that of a baby in similar circumstances. When handled or nursed, it was very quiet and contented, but when laid down by itself would invariably cry; and for the first few nights was very restless and noisy. I fitted up a little box for a cradle, with a soft mat for it to lie upon, which was changed and washed every day; and I soon found it necessary to wash the little Mias as well. After I had done so a few times, it came to like the operation, and as soon as it was dirty would begin crying, and not leave off till I took it out and carried it to the spout, when it immediately became quiet, although it would wince a little at the first rush of the cold water, and make ridiculously wry faces while the stream was running over its head. It enjoyed the wiping and rubbing dry amazingly, and when I brushed its hair seemed to be perfectly happy, lying quite still, with its arms and legs stretched out, while I thoroughly brushed the long hair of its back and arms. For the first few days it clung desperately with all four hands to whatever it could lay hold of, and I had to be careful to keep my beard out of its way, as its fingers clutched hold of hair more tenaciously than anything else, and it was impossible to free myself without assistance. When restless, it would struggle about, with its hands up in the air, trying to find something to take hold of, and, when it had got a bit of stick or rag in two or three of its hands, seemed quite happy. For want of something else, it would often seize its own feet, and after a time it would constantly cross its arms, and grasp with each hand the long hair that grew just below the opposite shoulder. The great tenacity of its grasp soon diminished, and I was obliged to invent some means to give it exercise and strengthen its limbs. For this purpose I made a short ladder of three or four rounds, on which I put it to hang for a quarter of an hour at a time. At first it seemed much pleased, but it could not get all four hands in a comfortable position, and, after changing about several times, would leave hold of one hand after the other, and drop on the floor. Sometimes when hanging only by two hands, it would loose one, and cross it to the opposite shoulder, grasping its own hair; and, as this seemed much more agreeable than the stick, it would then loose the other and tumble down, when it would cross both, and lie on its back quite contentedly, never seeming to be hurt by its numerous tumbles. Finding it so fond of hair, I endeavoured to make an artificial mother, by wrapping up a piece of buffalo-skin into a bundle, and suspending it about a foot from the floor. At first this seemed to suit it admirably, as it could sprawl its legs about and always find some hair, which it grasped with the greatest tenacity. I was now in hopes that I had made the little orphan quite happy; and so it seemed for some time, till it began to remember its lost parent, and try to suck. It would pull itself up close to the skin, and try about everywhere for a likely place; but, as it only succeeded in getting mouthfuls of hair and wool, it would be greatly disgusted, and scream violently, and after two or three attempts, let go altogether. One day it got some wool into its throat, and I thought it would have choked, but after much gasping it recovered, and I was obliged to take the imitation mother to pieces again, and give up this last attempt to exercise the little creature. After the first week I found I could feed it better with a spoon, and give it a little more varied and more solid food. Well-soaked biscuit, mixed with a little egg and sugar, and sometimes sweet potatoes, were readily eaten; and it was a never-failing amusement to observe the curious changes of countenance by which it would express its approval or dislike of what was given to it. The poor little thing would lick its lips, draw in its cheeks, and turn up its eyes with an expression of the most supreme satisfaction when it had a mouthful particularly to its taste. On the other hand, when its food was not sufficiently sweet or palatable, it would turn the mouthful about with its tongue for a moment, as if trying to extract what flavour there was, and then push it all out between its lips. If the same food was continued, it would set up a scream, and kick about violently, exactly like a baby in a passion. After I had had the little Mias about three weeks, I fortunately obtained a young Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus), which, though small, was very active, and could feed itself. I placed it in the same box with the Mias, and they immediately became excellent friends, neither exhibiting the least fear of the other. The little Monkey would sit upon the other’s stomach, or even on its face, without the least regard to its feelings. While I was feeding the Mias, the Monkey would sit by, picking up all that was spilt, and occasionally putting out its hands to intercept the spoon, and as soon as I had finished would pick off what was left sticking to the Mias’ lips, and then pull open its mouth to see if any still remained inside, afterwards lying down on the poor creature’s stomach as on a comfortable cushion. The little helpless Mias would submit to all these insults with the most exemplary patience, only too glad to have something warm near it which it could clasp affectionately in its arms. It sometimes, however, had its revenge; for when the Monkey wanted to go away, the Mias would hold on as long as it could by the loose skin of its back or head, or by its tail, and it was only after many vigorous jumps that the Monkey could make its escape. It was curious to observe the different actions of these two animals, which could not have differed much in age. The Mias, like a very young baby, lying on its back, quite helpless, rolling lazily from side to side, stretching out all four hands into the air, wishing to grasp something, but hardly able to guide its fingers to any definite object, and when dissatisfied opening wide its almost toothless mouth, and expressing its wants by a most infantine scream; the little Monkey, on the other hand, in constant motion, running and jumping about wherever it pleased, examining everything around it, seizing hold of the smallest objects with the greatest precision, balancing itself on the edge of the box, or running up a post, and helping itself to anything eatable that came in its way. There could hardly be a greater contrast; and the baby Mias looked more baby-like by the comparison. When I had had it about a month, it began to exhibit some signs of learning to run alone. When laid upon the floor it would push itself along by its legs, or roll itself over, and thus make an unwieldy progression. When lying in the box it would lift itself up to the edge into almost an erect position, and once or twice succeeded in tumbling out. When left dirty, or hungry, or otherwise neglected, it would scream violently till attended to, varied by a kind of coughing or pumping noise, very similar to that which is made by the adult animal. If no one was in the house, or its cries were not attended to, it would be quiet after a little while, but the moment it heard a footstep would begin again harder than ever. After five weeks it cut its two upper front teeth, but in all this time it had not grown the least bit, remaining, both in size and weight, the same as when I first procured it. This was, no doubt, owing to the want of milk or other equally nourishing food. Rice-water, rice, and biscuits were but a poor substitute, and the expressed milk of the cocoa-nut, which I sometimes gave it, did not quite agree with its stomach. To this I imputed an attack of diarrhœa, from which the poor little creature suffered greatly, but a small dose of castor-oil operated well, and cured it. A week or two afterwards it was again taken ill, and this time more seriously. The symptoms were exactly those of intermittent fever, accompanied by watery swellings on the feet and head. It lost all appetite for its food, and after lingering for a week, a most pitiable object, died, after being in my possession nearly three months. I much regretted the loss of my little pet, which I had at one time looked forward to bringing up to years of maturity, and taking home to England. For several months it had afforded me daily amusement by its curious ways and the inimitably ludicrous expression of its little countenance. Its weight was three pounds nine ounces, its height fourteen inches, and the spread of its arms twenty-three inches. I preserved its skin and skeleton, and in doing so found that, when it fell from the tree, it must have broken an arm and a leg, which had, however, united so rapidly, that I only noticed the hard swellings on the limbs where the irregular junction of the bones had taken place.”
There is evidently much intelligence in the young Orang, when brought in contact with man, but probably in its native woods it leads a very quiet and almost mechanical life, there being nothing to develop extra instincts, thought, or unusual intelligence. Of course, some are more active than others, and many have to use greater exertion than others to obtain food. Hence, whilst there is no increased growth of the mental organ after Orang childhood, there may be great increase of the muscular structures. In the first instance, the brain case does not enlarge internally, and the old ones have no more brains than the young; and in the second, the ridges on the skull, the spines of the neck, and the markings on the bones generally do grow immensely, so as to give attachment to extra-muscular fibres.
Moreover, besides these causes of growth there are those hidden ones which refer to sex, the old males acquiring a hideous aspect in our eyes, but lovely in those of the more comely female Miases, from the growth of long head ridges and the curious face pads. The bulk of the brain of an Orang is about one-half of that of a man of ordinary mind; and the brain itself, whilst it is higher in measurement than that of any of the Apes already mentioned, is long and flat in comparison with that of man. In front it tapers off slightly, and is not flat in front and below, for there the eye-cases or orbits, by projecting upwards, render the brain in their neighbourhood, as it were, excavated. As in the other Apes, the back of the brain is well developed, and the several parts distinguishable in man exist. One of the furrows so visible in the Troglodytes, which marks the side of the brain towards the back (the occipito-temporal), is scarcely in existence in the Orang.
There is something very human in the appearance of the brain case in the young of both species of Orang. The back and sides have the peculiar “bumpy” look of those of the child; there are then no crests, and the brow ridges, extremely small, merge into a straightish forehead. The face looks long in front of the eyes, or orbits, and these are elliptical or oval, and approaching the circular in outline. The cheeks look wide even in the young ones; and it will be noticed that the bone of the upper jaw (superior maxillary bone) has a short projection, which joins the molar or cheek-bone at some distance from the jaw. There is a hole or holes under the orbit in man and in the Troglodytes which transmits a nerve to the face, and people who have tic-douloureux know where it is very well; this is close to the junction of the molar and jaw-bones in the Troglodytes, but in the Orang this junction is much further off the middle of the face. This causes the extra width to the cheeks. The bone there forms the surface upon which the curious pad of fat and skin rests, which gives such an ugly look to the face in the old ones, when all these parts have grown to excess. The young have milk teeth, and in the upper jaw the last crushing or molar tooth has large cusps behind and projecting inwards, and the incisor teeth are equal in size. In the lower jaw the incisors are grooved in front in a curious manner; and the great molar teeth with five cusps have a curiously wrinkled-looking surface. Underneath the skull looks long, and the hole for the spinal cord is much longer than broad, and the joints or condyles are distant from the front of it. The palate is broad and the nose cavity also, and there is a bony styloid process connected with the ear-bone.
In the female of the Simia morio, which is the smallest Orang, all the structures just mentioned as characterising the young Simia satyrus and the young male Morio are exaggerated. There are faint frontal ridges also, and the back ridge or crest is shown, but there is hardly any difference in the size of the brain case. The front bone of the upper jaw is very distinct; and the creature whose skull is in the British Museum had its permanent teeth, the milk ones having fallen. There was the same number of teeth as in the Troglodytes and in man. But it is in the old males that the juvenile structures are greatly altered; and it is indeed hard to believe their skulls ever could have belonged to the same species. In the old males the brain case has not increased in its capacity, but it is furnished with huge ridges along the front and crossing behind. The ridges commence on the brow ridges and the outside of the orbits, which are no longer nearly circular, but flattened above; they pass on to the forehead, and curve to join in the middle line of the skull, forming a crest. This meets at the back a crest coming from the tip of each ear-bone. The cheek-bones are huge and wide apart; the upper canine teeth are great, and their sockets mark the face. The palate is huge, wide, and not arched; and the upper middle incisors project, and are very large, cutting indeed upon three of the lower ones.
All the roughnesses for the attachment of muscles are great, and the lower jaw is immense, and the tooth next to the lower canine--the first false molar--is pointed and cutting behind. Finally, the opening for the spinal cord (the foramen magnum) is round in front, and the condyle joints are close to its anterior margin. These are changes during the growth which are worth considering, especially as they cause the animal to depart from many of its man-like characters, which are so well seen in the young and in the females.
The Orang has no uvula, and the papillæ of the back of the tongue are in the shape of the letter V. Its stomach differs somewhat in shape from that of man and the Troglodytes, but its vegetable diet determines the existence of a large intestine which has a little ending or appendix (vermiformis) as in man.
Chapter IV
THE MAN-SHAPED APES (concluded)--THE GIBBONS[18]--1. THE SIAMANGS--2. THE TRUE GIBBONS.
General Characteristics of the Species--THE SIAMANG--Its Habits and Anatomy--Distinctness from the Orangs and Gibbons--Special Peculiarities--THE WHITE-HANDED GIBBON--Where Found--Its Cry--Its Habits--Special Anatomical Features--THE HOOLOOK--Where Found--A Young One in Captivity--Shape of the Skull--THE WOOYEN APE--Its Appearance and Habits--THE WOW-WOW--Very little Known about it--THE AGILE GIBBON--Reason of the Name--Peculiarities of the Anatomy--General Comparison of the Different Varieties of the Great Apes.
The Orang-utan is not the only man-shaped Ape of the forests and jungles of the great Asiatic Islands, for there are several others to be found there, and which also live on the main land, from Malacca far away to the north in Assam; southwards, in the peninsula of Hindostan, and in South China.
They are less human-looking than the red Orangs, and they are smaller and more slender, but when they walk for a short distance erect, with the arms above the head balancing the body, their resemblance to a small and hairy “lord of creation” is considerable. A very slight glance distinguishes them from the Orangs; they have straight backs, small beads, large eyes, rather prominent chins, very long fore-arms, and their fingers reach the ankle in some, and the ground in others. Moreover, the Orangs sit upon a surface of hair, and these are furnished with a hard pad-like seat which is bare, and is called a callosity, but they have no tail. They can run.
These long-armed Apes have a number of names, but as a whole they are called Gibbons; and as their outside and inside differences and distinctions from the Orangs are considerable and more than those of the kinds of Orangs between themselves, they are grouped into a separate genus. The Orangs form, as has been stated before, the genus Simia, and these Gibbons constitute the genus Hylobates, a term taken from the Greek ὑλοβάτης, a walker in the woods.
So far as their intelligence, amiability, and teachableness are concerned, they are equal to the Orangs, and indeed they seem to adapt themselves to the methods of men more readily. Not only do they become very fond of their keepers, but they recollect them after the lapse of time; and they are constantly let loose by those who keep them in India to wander about the trees in the neighbourhood, and they will return to be cared for, and come, when called, to be fed.
Interesting to those who study the intelligence of animals, they are equally so to the common observer, who delights in witnessing their surpassing agility, wonderful leaps, and graceful swings from bough to bough. But to the anatomist they present many complicated problems for although evidently not so high in the animal scale as the Orangs and Chimpanzees, they have some things about them which cause them to resemble man more than do these great Apes, and others which cause them to resemble the large army of Monkeys. They are the last of the man-shaped in the classification, and the usual plan is to place them after the Orangs.
They are extremely delicate animals, although their fur is thick, and, in some kinds, long. They require a considerable temperature and very pure air; hence, although many have been brought to Europe, and exhibited to the delight of thousands, they do not live long, dying usually from consumption or from some lung disease. In the British Museum there are several groups of stuffed specimens of them, and also many skulls and skeletons, and a cursory examination of the first will prove that it is very difficult to distinguish one kind from another, for in the same kind, or species, there is a great variety of colour, and a different individuality in the two sexes and young. It has happened that the same kind has been called by several names by different observers, and it is only when the skeleton has been examined with the stuffed specimen that a satisfactory distinction between the species or kinds has been made.
Evidently, the whole of these long-armed Apes, with small heads and callosities on the seat, are separable into two divisions. In one the animals are larger than the others, and have a very singular adaptation of the foot for rapid movement amongst the boughs, and they have air-pouches; and in the second the animals are smaller, and have the toes free, and have no pouches. So the genus Hylobates is divided into two divisions: 1. The Siamangs. 2. The True Gibbons.
THE SIAMANG.[19]
Sir Stamford Raffles brought the Siamang prominently before the scientific world, and noticed the curious manner in which some of the toes were united, and he considered that this was to enable them to swing rapidly from branch to branch during their ordinary movements in the forest, when any stretching out of the fingers might be dangerous and produce a fall. But in this, as in many others, we owe to Mr. Wallace thanks for a concise description of the habits of the creature, which, from having its toes partly joined, has been named, Syndactylus, from the Greek words σὺν and δάκτυλος, which mean “together” and “finger.”
“A very curious Ape, the Siamang, was rather abundant, but it is much less bold than the common Monkeys, keeping to the virgin forest, 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 name. It moves much more slowly than the Hylobates, keeping lower down in the trees, and not indulging in such tremendous leaps; but still it is 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 greater 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 verandah, with so much ease and rapidity, that it was a constant source of amusement to us. When I returned to Singapore it attracted great attention, as no one had seen a Siamang before, although it is not uncommon in some parts of the Malay peninsula.”
There are some interesting points about the relation of the construction of this animal and its method of moving. Thus, in grasping a bough with the arm at full length above the head, so as to leave it with a swing in order to grasp another rapidly and for a correspondingly short period of time, the fingers require to be kept together as much as is possible, and to remain more or less bent on the palm. The long thumb may or may not be used, but in order to move efficiently it must be free, and also strong. Now in the Siamang these necessary peculiarities are present, and the common use of the finger and thumb in taking hold of things in the ordinary manner is sacrificed to them, and there is little or no delicacy of fingering or of prehension. Moreover, the fingers and thumbs are extremely thin and delicate, and in order to render the first finger less movable, it is, to a certain extent, deficient in its muscles of extension; and the common bending or flexor muscle of the fingers is very independent of that of the thumb. In compensation there is a special muscle found in this genus alone, which pulls the top of the second finger towards the thumb.[20] The skeleton of the hand shows that the fingers are slightly curved. There is no doubt that the hand of the Siamang, although it has these peculiar muscles, the curve of the bones, and also the extra bone noticed in the Orangs, is, as far as its skeleton is concerned, much more human than that of the other Apes. The extensor muscles of the fingers resemble those of the Orangs. The hand is larger than the foot in these animals, and the forearm is much longer than the upper arm.
A French naturalist states that the animal can leap, or, rather, swing--for it is done with the fore limbs--with graceful agility at least eighty feet, and the muscles of the arm, which are connected with the chest, aid in this. The pull is from the stationary arm to the chest of the movable body by muscular contraction; and the greater the muscular connection between the arm and chest, the greater will be the movement. In order to provide for this, the great muscle of the front of the upper arm, the biceps (see page 26), is not only attached, as in the other Apes and in man, to the blade-bone just above the arm-joint, but also to the chest in front, for it is united there with the great muscle which springs from the ribs and breast-bone, and is attached high up to the arm (pectoralis major). In some of the other Apes this second part of the biceps is attached to a bent projection (coracoid) of the blade-bone, so that it has no direct attachment with the chest itself.
The Siamang can walk fairly in the erect posture by balancing with the arms, or by placing them over the head, and it has a great power of grasp with its toe-thumb. The shape of the foot resembles that of man more than that of the Troglodytes and Orangs, and the heel-bone is strong, and projects but slightly, and the toe-thumb is stout and long. The muscles of the foot are, as it were, more separate than in man, especially the flexors: and there is an extra muscle, an abductor of the third joint of the second toe.
The ability to walk well was proved when a tame Siamang used to walk along a cabin table at sea, without disturbing the crockery; and curiously enough this was better done than were some of the ordinary movements of the hand, for drinking out of the palm was a most ineffective and clumsy effort.
The bones of the foot resemble those of man more than do those of the Apes already noticed; but the first and second fingers are united by a fold of skin.
Under the jaw and along the throat of a tame Siamang, a large swelling, not very well covered with hair, was visible enough. This was a vast air or laryngeal pouch, and pressure emptied it into the throat. Hence the creature in this point resembles the Oranges and the Troglodytes, but the use of the sac could not be satisfactorily decided. The sac opens into the windpipe by two apertures, which are in a membrane that unites the base of the tongue and the organ of voice together. It has an uvula.
They are quiet, inoffensive animals, full of affection for man, and having good memories. Their temper is short enough sometimes, especially if there is any disappointment, but they have none of the mischievous tricks or malice of the Monkeys. Liking milk occasionally, they still mainly feed on fruit and leaves, and hence the nature of their teeth, the size of their jaws, and the capacity of their brain case may be fairly anticipated.
The bulk of the brain is less in comparison with that of the Orang, and the hind part does not quite cover or overlap the cerebellum, and the whole skull is long and low, and slightly broad behind. The most striking parts about it are the cavities for the eyes (the orbits), which are nearly circular in outline, deep, open, and swollen behind; moreover, they are wide apart, and there is no brow ridge connecting them. They, the face and the lower jaw, occupy only one-half of the skull, and the brain case is composed of the usual bones, which are extremely faintly ridged, the ridges extending on either side from the outer part of the orbit on to the frontal and parietal (or side) head bones. The back of the skull is rough, for the attachment of muscles, and the opening for the spinal cord and the joints for the top of the neck are far back, so that the head is set, as it were, forward in respect of the spine. There is a long and narrow roof to the mouth, and the diastema, or space in the line of the teeth, in front of the upper eye or canine teeth, is very distinct. These teeth are long, thin, and grooved, and project rather outwards as well as far below the other upper teeth. Yet, in all probability, this is not a bloodthirsty sign, but one which may have to do with sex, the males of many of the Monkeys possessing these great teeth only, or having them larger than the females. The first, or incisor teeth, occupy a very small space, and they and the two front molars are like those of man. An examination of the three true crushing molars shows the last, or that nearest the back of the jaw, to be the largest. They have four cusps or projections, which are small but decided, and somewhat resemble those of insect-eating animals.
The lower jaw is very remarkable, for it has a good straight chin; and the joint and the part which passes from it to the body of the jaw, or the “angle,” resembles that of man more than that of the rest of the Apes.
The lower teeth are very unlike the upper, and the canines are smaller; the first false molar is pyramidal, and has a cutting surface in front and behind. The true molars have at least five cusps or projections, and are admirably suited for the creature’s diet.
One of the most curious points about the Siamang is that the broad breast-bone, the blade-bone, and large chest, and the ribs present human resemblances, but there are fourteen pairs of these last. The hip-bones are long and do not curve far in front, but the joint of the thigh is situated more after the manner of that of man than is the case in the other great Apes.
Everything in this creature’s anatomy, and, amongst other things, its delicate, long bones, great grasp, supple back, small head, long neck, and long hair, assist in its peculiar life, which is evidently one of much climbing, swaying, swinging, and passing from tree to tree with the hands rather than with the feet. It lives in Sumatra and in the Malay peninsula.
THE TRUE GIBBONS.
The other kinds of Hylobates are called the True Gibbons, and although in their habits they greatly resemble the Siamang, they are smaller in size, and have some very remarkable structural differences. They inhabit the mainland of India and the great islands of Borneo and Sumatra, or, rather, all the great islands of the Indo-Malayan sub-region, except the Philippines. They are found in Sylhet, and Assam, and Camboja, in South China, to the west of Canton, and in the island of Hainan.
THE WHITE-HANDED OR LAR GIBBON.[21]
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.
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.
The Lar is common in its native haunts, and is subject to great variation in its colour. Some are dark brown or black, with white hands and feet, and they have the circle of white hairs around the face, the band across the forehead coming down in a peak above the nose. Others are ochre-brown, and have a lighter-coloured hand, foot, and anklet; whilst many are a dirty white. They take odd fancies, and likes and dislikes. Some which are allowed in India to roam about the grounds of the Zoological Gardens there will come in to sleep, and are exceedingly gentle to men, but extremely savage to women; others do not do this.
In looking at the collection in the British Museum, every one must be struck with the long necks of these creatures, which do not allow the little muzzle and snub-like nose to come down on a level with the breast-bone (as in the Chimpanzee, for instance), and also with the extremely narrow and long hands and feet, with their thin fingers. It will be also noticed that the nails of their thumbs and toe-thumbs are flat, whilst all the rest are claws. Their chin is less prominent than that of the Siamang, and this is shown in the skull. In the lower jaw there are some interesting differences between the Lar and the Siamang which cannot readily be accounted for; firstly, the crushing teeth wear in pits in the middle, whilst a ridge is formed in the Siamang; and in the Lar the angle of the jaw is decidedly turned in or inflected, as the term is, a condition which will be noticed in the other Hylobates.
No air or laryngeal sac is found in the Lar or in any Gibbon, and its noise has therefore nothing to do with such an organ.
Their swinging from branch to branch is assisted by the same arrangement of the muscle of the arm as in the Siamang; and they have the transversus pedis, which was stated to be wanting in the Orang, and it is united with the adductor of the thumb.
THE HOOLOOK.[22]
Naturalists have ransacked nearly every part of the globe for interesting animals, and have procured them from very out-of-the-way places. One of these localities was particularly difficult to get at years ago, for it is in the hills, far away to the north-east of Calcutta the other side of the great river Brahmapootra, in Assam. Amongst the Garrow and Cossyah hills, where there are wild gorges, and uplands crowded with vast forests, overlooking the wide plains of the river-valley, there were many wonderfully active Gibbons. About two feet in length, they were capable of swinging with unerring certainty from branch to branch, many feet apart; and even the females performed these constant and natural movements while their young were hanging to them. They were black in colour, with white eyebrows, or, rather, a white band across the forehead. When caught, they soon became tamed, especially when young, and were docile and affectionate. One which was kept by Dr. Burrough was two feet six inches in length, yet the fore-limb was only five inches shorter than this, the length of the hand itself being six inches.
So great was the disproportion of the legs and arms, that the first were, including the feet, only nineteen inches long, and the fingers touched the ground readily when he was standing erect. This Hoolook was of a deep black colour, and he had the usual simple band of white across the forehead, and black hands and feet. He was caught in the usual haunt of this species, not on the upper, but on the lower hills, which do not reach a greater altitude than 500 feet, and being well treated, he was easily tamed, and his habits were capable of being well watched. He liked the fruit of the peepul-tree better than anything, and bananas; but he took to rice and milk, and enjoyed snapping up a sweet or two, and especially delighted in Spiders. Meat he cared little about, and pork and beef he detested, but he liked fish occasionally. After about a month’s captivity he took a great fancy to his master, and would come to his call, and sit up to breakfast. He liked to help himself to chicken and egg, and at first was very bad in his manners, dipping his fingers into the coffee and milk, and then sucking them. Afterwards he was taught to hold a cup and to drink from it.
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.
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.
THE WOW-WOW.
A species which is called the Wow-wow, or Silvery Gibbon (Hylobates leuciscus), is perhaps more interesting to the anatomist than to the observer of the habits of animals; for nothing is known about their method of living. Their skull shows a decided ridge or crest along the top, which branches well in front into two ridges going to the front over the orbit. Moreover, the chin of the lower jaw is very deep, the angles slightly turned in, and the eye teeth are thin and sharp.
THE AGILE GIBBON.[24]
This animal is also interesting, from having a great twist inwards of the jaw behind, and two curious ridge-like crests on the head. Its name conveys the extreme agility of the animal, as observed in confinement.
These Gibbons have many interesting points about them, and one of the most curious is that they have no air or laryngeal pouches, and yet their general anatomy, especially of the muscles of the throat, neck, and body, is the same as that of the Siamang, which has been noticed above to have a vast pouch. The brain is small, especially behind, but why it is difficult to imagine, for the Spider Monkey, which lives in the New World, and whose feats of agility resemble those of the Gibbons, has a very large back portion of the brain, large even in proportion to that of man; and the importance of this difference is all the greater when it is remembered that all the last investigations into the actions of the nerves arising from the sides of the brain towards the back connect them with motions of the hands and fore-limbs especially. But it is possible that the back of the brain in the Siamang appears to be smaller than it really is, because of the large size of the cerebellum. The skulls of the Gibbons are very man-like, and more so than those of the other Apes, and this is because of their faces and jaws being smaller in comparison with the brain case. If the young of all the great Apes be examined, their skulls will appear much more human than those of the adults, because the brain and face grow up to a certain point together and equally; but with age the brain does not increase in size proportionally with the face, which grows on, and finally preponderates in size. But if the skulls of the young Apes be compared one with the other, that of the Siamang will really not look as human as that of the Gorilla or Chimpanzee.
The Gibbons have a very small appendage to the blindgut, and they have hard bare pads or callosities on the seat, and these structures connect them with the next group of Monkeys, which cease to be man-shaped; and indeed the Gibbons and Siamangs, although man-shaped (Anthropomorpha), occupy neutral ground between the Orangs and the Cynomorpha.
Formerly, in those ages when the Orang lived on the continent of India, the Gibbons roamed far over the vast land surfaces of the period, and lived in Southern France. Portions of the skeleton of an Ape as large as a man, but which resembled the Hylobates, were found there, and named Dryopithecus, in strata of Mid-Tertiary age.
In concluding this part of the subject, which relates especially to the man-shaped Apes, some very obvious reflections occur. There is something very interesting as well as instructive and suggestive in the study of the proportions of the limbs to each other and to the body in the larger Apes, of which the Gorilla is the highest in the scale, and in man. The fingers in man hang down to below the middle of the thigh; in the Gorilla they attain the knee; in the Chimpanzee they reach below the knee; in the Orang they touch the ankle; in the Siamang they reach the sole; and in some Gibbons the whole palm may be applied to the ground without the trunk being bent forward beyond its natural position on the legs. It is also found that in man the arm-bone exceeds in length each of the bones of the fore-arm in a marked manner, and in the Gorilla and Chimpanzee it does so but slightly; the bones are equal in the Orangs, and very unequal in the Gibbons, those of the fore-arm being the longest. When the length of the arms down to the wrist is compared with that of the body, omitting the legs, there is not much difference between man and the Gorilla, but it increases in the Chimpanzee, Orang, and in the Siamang. The lower limbs are short in the Gorilla, and this is characteristic--they offer but a poor support to the huge body--and the resemblance to the symmetrical proportion of the legs to the body in man is scanty indeed. This disproportion is greater in the Chimpanzee and Orangs, in which the lower limbs are pigmies.
Consider the hand in the same manner. Man’s perfect hand, writes Owen, is one of his peculiar physical characters, and that perfection is mainly due to the differences of the first and the other four fingers, and the ability of this first to be opposed to them, as a perfect thumb. A partially opposable thumb, that is to say, one which can be brought over the palm, more or less, is present in the hand of the great Apes. It is large in the Gorilla, so far as Apes are concerned, and it reaches, when it and the fingers are stretched out, to just a little beyond the first joint of the first finger, or rather of its first movable part. But in the Chimpanzee and Orang it does not reach to the joint, and it is longest and strongest in proportion in the Gibbons (Hylobates). In the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee, the wrist-bones are eight in number, but there are nine in the Orangs and Gibbons.
The toe-thumb is about five-twelfths of the length of the whole foot in the Gorilla, and it is slightly longer in the Chimpanzee and Hylobates, but it is not more than a fourth of the length of the foot in Orangs.
The nails of all the fingers and toes of the great Apes are flattened, except in the Hylobates, whose thumb and toe-thumb nails only are so; the rest are more claw-like.
Finally, as regards the brain and nervous system. In the man-shaped Apes the brain is smaller as compared with the nerves which proceed from it than in man; and the brain proper is smaller relatively to the cerebellum than in man. The convolutions, the fissures, and eminences of the brain are generally less complex, and those of the two sides or hemispheres of the brain are more symmetrical than in man. The sides of the brain or the hemispheres are rounder and deeper in man, and the proportions of their lobes to one another are different. Some convolutions and fissures present in man are less perfectly formed, but still exist in the Apes, and the cerebellum is not covered entirely in the Hylobates, but it is in the other Anthropomorpha.
V. THE DOG-SHAPED MONKEYS[25]--1. SEMNOPITHECUS--2. COLOBUS
General Characteristics of the Monkeys of the Old World--Distinguished from the Apes by Length of the Hinder Limbs and presence of Tails--Divided into those with and those without Cheek-pouches--Use of the Cheek-pouches--The two Genera of Pouchless Monkeys--THE SACRED MONKEYS, or Semnopitheci--Derivation of the Name--First Discovery--Ape Worship in India--General Description--Limited to Asia--THE SIMPAI--Its Locality and Appearance--THE BUDENG--Hunted for their Fur--Its Colour and Appearance--THE LONG-NOSED MONKEY--Reason of the Name--Quaint Appearance of the Young--Anatomical Peculiarities--Their First Appearance in Europe--Description of the Nose--Peculiar Formation of the Stomach--Bezoars--THE HOONUMAN MONKEY--The Sacred Monkey of the Hindoos--Legends about it--THE DOUC MONKEY--Its Appearance and Habitat--THE BLACK-LEGGED DOUC--Anatomical Peculiarities--THE CROWNED MONKEY--THE RED MONKEY--THE SUMATRA MONKEY--THE WHITE-BEARDED MONKEY--Found in Ceylon--Its Intelligence--THE GREAT WANDEROO--Other Ceylonese Monkeys--THE GENUS COLOBUS, or Thumbless Monkeys--Description of the Hand and Wrist--Different Varieties--COLOBUS VERUS--COLOBUS GUEREZA--Their Habitat and Peculiarities--Fossil Semnopitheci.
The Apes which have formed the subject of the previous chapters, and which, from their greater or less resemblance to man, have been called the Anthropomorpha, have long arms, short legs, and no tails. The great length of the fore limb distinguishes them not only from man, but also from all the other Quadrumana, and so does the relative shortness of the hinder limbs. The length of limb is thus sufficient to afford data for classifying the Quadrumana of the Old World in two great groups, of which the Anthropomorpha form the first, and the rest of the Monkeys the second. In these the fore limb is invariably the shortest, and the hinder one the longest; so that there is exactly the reverse condition of that observed in the great Apes. With regard to the tail question, it may be stated that, whilst many species have very long tails, others have them of moderate length, and a few have none.
The Monkeys of this second group, or the Cynomorpha, all of which live in the Old World, have a thin division (septum) between the nostrils, whose openings look downwards, or downwards and outwards. They are Catarhine Quadrumana (see page 3), and many have cheek-pouches, but not all, whilst all have the peculiar pads, more or less brightly coloured, which are placed where the animal sits, or on the swelling of the haunch-bone. All these Old World Monkeys have the same number of teeth as the Apes already described, and arranged in the same manner, and most have a laryngeal or air pouch; but there is great diversity in their size, shape, and in the method of progression of the body and shape of the head, and also in the construction of the brain and internal organs. Moreover, the arrangement of the muscles and of the back-bone differs.
The presence or absence of the cheek-pouches, the peculiarity in the shape of the teeth, the shape of the body and limbs, and the method of moving along, are all matters of importance to the zoologist, for by them he is enabled to arrange these Monkeys in genera and species, so as to give the naturalist the proper name of the kind whose habits he may be studying. Moreover, the comparative anatomist, in examining the insides of these creatures, and explaining their peculiarities of internal construction, is able to account for many habits and the presence of many structures, as well as to assist the zoologist. For, a classification, to be good for anything, must be more than skin deep, and must depend upon the differences in those parts which are not readily changed by habits or peculiar methods of life.
The Monkeys of the Old World, excluding the great Apes already described, and including alone those with long hind limbs, may be divided into those without cheek-pouches and those which have them; and those in the first division form the subject of this chapter. Cheek-pouches may be seen crammed with nuts in most of the Monkeys at the Zoological Gardens, and the appearance given to the face is as if the skin on each side of the lower part of it were distended. When there are no nuts thus stowed away, the cheeks do not present a swollen or unusual appearance. The Monkey does not force nuts outside its jaws and between them and the cheeks so as to simply distend them, but it presses its food into what look like some folds in the cheek. These unfold, and form a bag or pouch on each side of the face, and the animal can eat, scream, and scold with the pouches full, and without their contents coming by chance into the mouth. The gift of a cheek-pouch is of great importance to a Monkey; it is a stowaway for his food, which may have to be carried some distance before it can be eaten. And it must be remembered, that not only have the Monkeys very indefinite notions of meum et tuum, but that they are surrounded by dangers from many other animals; they are communists, and their motto is la propriété c’est le vol; and, on the other hand, the great beasts of the earth, whose stealing is less thought of, because it is done with great violence, openly, and on a large scale, put down the Monkeys whenever they have the chance. But Nature, ever a considerate mother, whilst she is exceedingly economical, and does not allow any structures to be unused or wasted without gradually abolishing them, often gives animals which are defective in some things very important compensation.
The pouchless Monkeys are evidently at a disadvantage; but by this system of compensation they have very peculiar stomachs, in which they can stow away quite as much food before more is absolutely wanted as their pouched friends can. The nature of this stomach will be noticed further on; and it is only necessary to observe that it is not in existence in the cheek-pouched division at all. The cheeks of the Monkeys with the peculiar stomach, on the other hand, are not pouched, but there is just the vestige of a fold or two, which, although of no use, still remains as an evidence of their ancestry--for, doubtless, these are descended from those with pouches. The great Anthropomorphous Apes have no cheek-pouches, neither have the American Monkeys; and, for reasons which will be noticed in treating of these last, they have not the complicated stomach of the Old World pouchless group.
The pouchless division of Monkeys with complicated stomachs, and which, of course, have long hind limbs, comprehends two genera--the genus Semnopithecus, and the genus Colobus.
THE SACRED MONKEYS.
The Semnopitheci, or the Sacred Apes--from σεμνός (sacred), and πίθηκος (an Ape)--were probably known to the Greeks who invaded India under Alexander the Great; and Ctesias, a Greek writer, who was taken prisoner by Artaxerxes of Persia, at the battle of Cunaxa, some 400 years B.C., studied them. He was kept for seventeen years at the court of that monarch, and made notes on most subjects, and also on the natural history of Persia and India. On his return to Athens he gave the world the results of his observation in a book, and in it he treats of two Apes, one of which was smaller than the other, and had a very long tail. This was a Semnopithecus, for the genus is especially Asiatic; but the ancients did not discriminate between the long-tailed Apes of Africa and those of Asia, but called both Cercopithecus--from κέρκος (a tail), and πίθηκος (Ape). At the present time the word Cercopithecus is restricted to the kinds which live in Africa. These differ in their internal construction from the Asiatic varieties.
During the rise of the religion of Brahma, the contemplation of the Creator became singularly mixed up with the worship of the created, and many animals became sacred. Hence, when one of those wandering restless spirits, Gasparo Balbi by name, started in 1570 from the town of Venice, where he was a jeweller, to reach the Indies, and came to the end of his journey, he saw many a long-tailed Ape worshipped and petted by his customers. He wandered amidst many a danger--but the people were honest then--and reached Aleppo. Then he went by caravan to Bagdad, and got to Old Babylon--by the way, “a place perilous for robbers and lions.” Reaching Bagdad, he embarked for Balsora, and reached that place after escaping whirlpools and hot and deadly winds. Thence he went to the cities of St. Thomas, by the Seven Pagodas, in Southern India. Leaving there, and much troubled by tigers, he crossed the Ganges and got into Pegu on the Irawady. He admired the Pagodas, or as they are there called, “the Varelles of the gods,” and says that about them are found “tyed many Apes of that kind which resemble Mountain Cats, which were called Monkeys; they keep them very carefully, holding them to be creatures beloved of God, because they have their hands and feet like human creatures, and therefore the woods are full of them, for they never take any except for their Varelles and statues.” This regard for the Long-tailed Monkey has lasted, and probably is only now diminishing under the influence of the rationalistic philosophy of the wicked Europeans, who will not see anything holy in an Ape. Certain it is that the follies of Ape-worship were carried on to a wonderful extent, and that these creatures have been preserved to the serious detriment of crops, comfort, and temper.
The regard of the natives for them was, and probably is still, sincere, and their boldness--the result of immunity from persecution--was discovered very early in the English occupation of India; for Tavernier tells a story of an English “President,” who asked him to shoot some Monkeys, which were amusingly audacious by the river side. He complied, and a female fell dead with her young clinging to her. This so enraged the Monkeys that sixty of them descended at once, and had it not been for the serving-men, and the carriage being shut up, they would have strangled the “President.” They followed the carriage for many miles. Then we are told about Indian princes spending fortunes on the marriage-feasts of Apes; and of cultivators of the soil being scared away and subjected to all sorts of rapine by these holy creatures. All this goes to prove that generations of Hindoos have believed in the sacred character of the Monkey, and have placed him in their mythology.
So Fred. Cuvier, when he wanted a name, termed them Sacred Apes, or Semnoptheci. They have been called Slow Apes, but this is quite a misnomer, for when awake, and not tired, they are as full of fun, activity, and play, but not as full of malice, as the others.
Wallace, in his charming book of travels in the great Islands of Sumatra and Borneo, thus noticed how full of life they are:--“In Sumatra, Monkeys are very abundant, and at Lubo Raman they used to frequent the trees which overhang the guard-house, and gave 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 unconcerned 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. 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 happens 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 behind, they would leap as far as they could, and often come crashing down into the underwood.”
The Semnopitheci may be described as Monkeys with hind limbs long, and larger than the fore limbs, with slender bodies, usually highest at the tail, and round heads, and with not very prominent faces, and very long tails. They have callous pads on the haunch-bones, and in some there are slight folds inside the cheeks, but no pouches. The hands have thumbs, and the last tooth of the lower jaw (the third molar) has a prominent heel to it, or cusp, besides four others. They are of all sizes, and the largest are bigger than a Pointer Dog; but they are all slightly made, and their long bodies, thin as a rule, are larger in the stomach than in the chest. Their tails, which hang down and are not curled up, distinguish them pretty readily.
The Monkey which shows the peculiarities of the genus Semnopithecus more than others is, perhaps,
THE BLACK-CRESTED MONKEY, OR THE SIMPAI.[26]
It was noticed and described by Sir Stamford Raffles as a native of Sumatra, where it is frequently seen in the neighbourhood of Bencoolen. It has a long and slender body, very long hind-legs, and the tail end is higher than the shoulders in walking. The fore-legs are short, and the tail is very long, and exceeds thirty inches in length, and the head is small and wonderfully straight in the forehead and face.
The colours of this Simpai are very different to those of the great Apes already mentioned. Here variety of colour replaces the sameness of the tints of the large Anthropomorpha. First, there is a long crest of black hair on the top of the head, which passes slightly round the face close. On the cheeks there is a tuft of fawn-coloured hairs, which graduate into white. The forehead is of a light fawn-colour, and the face is naked, slightly wrinkled, and of a blue tint. The under parts of the body are very white, and on the back and neck the colour is bright yellow and red. The palms and soles are black, the thumbs are small, and the callosities are large.
THE NEGRO MONKEY.[27]
This is, as the name implies, a black Monkey. It is intensely black, except underneath, and at the root of the tail, where there is a grey tint. The paws are long, delicate, and silky, and become slightly grey on the head and back with old age. Like most black things, it leads a troubled life, being chased and hunted, not, however, in this instance so much for amusement as for the pretty black fur. They live in great troops, in the Javanese forests, and sometimes fifty or more individuals associate together. They make rude nests in trees, and are extremely timid, making off with great haste if they are disturbed. A long series of generations has been chased and killed by the natives of Java, and therefore the present Negro Monkeys are exceedingly shy, and bolt from the face of man at once. And yet, although thus timid and anxious to get out of the way, they have the reputation of being dangerous, and really unwittingly they may be so. On the approach of men they utter loud screams, and scamper off amongst the trees, helter-skelter. Now in doing this, they break dead branches off, and sometimes a large fruit or nut comes tumbling down some score or two of feet. These are supposed to be thrown by the Monkeys, but such is not the case. Having this bad character, the “Negroes” are cudgelled with sticks, and killed in numbers very cruelly. Their pretty fur is much prized, and the chiefs of the country arrange the hunting parties, treating the Monkeys really as beasts of the field. The skins are prepared by a simple process which the natives have learned from Europeans; and they conduct it with great skill. It affords a fur of a jet-black colour, covered with long silky hairs, which is used by the natives and Europeans there in ornamenting riding saddlery and in military decorations.
When young, they are of a brown or reddish tint, and thin grey tints appear preceding the intense black; they then eat buds and shoots and tender leaves, but in adult age they are fruit consumers. When in captivity they are sullen and morose, and they will remain sulky for many months. This the natives know, and therefore they never try to tame them, or to have them in their houses. In their shape they resemble the last Monkey described, and their hind limbs are very long, their haunches being high.
They are rather more than two feet long in the body, and the neck appears short; both shoulders and chest are short and largely made. The tail is as long as the body and head, and is often slightly tufted at the end. A mop of hair surrounds the face, and the hairs are long and closely pressed, and quite conceal the forehead. The nose is peculiar, for the bones of it are ridged, as it were, and the skin is drawn tight over the open nostril (nares), so that there is no soft nose. A very considerable space exists between the nostrils and the mouth, and the lips are small and thin.
THE LONG-NOSED MONKEY.[28]
Of all the remarkable oddities of Nature amongst the many-shaped Monkeys, the Long-nosed or Proboscis-carrier stands pre-eminent. In fact, there is nothing in human or ape nature like the face of one particular Long-tailed Semnopithecus from Borneo. Monkeys have flat noses as a rule, some have a ridge and a little fleshy mass in which the nostrils end; others, like the Baboon, have dog-like noses, and the Americans have wide noses, the nostrils opening well at the sides. In man there is the Roman nose, the pug, the straight, the flat, the broken, the long with a large end, and the short with a turn up, but the Nasalis Monkey stands alone amongst the Primates with a nose of vast proportions, which projects far in advance of the mouth, and whose nostrils open underneath. It grows with age, and commences as a small “turn up,” which still is more fleshy and longer than the nose of any Monkey. The newly-born Nose Monkey is a most extraordinary object, reminding the critical eye of many youths of weak constitution and defective brains. Its hair is wonderfully parted down the middle, and brushed by Dame Nature down the sides of the head and a little backwards; the whiskers take the latter direction, and the ears stand out just behind them. It has drooping eyelids, a longish upper lip, with just a little sign of coming hair, and then there is the funny nose, the upper part like a boy’s, but the end seems to have been pulled out and turned up, so that the nostrils are quite at the tip. The face has a tinge of blue about it, and the animal, even when old enough to be sitting on a tree, looks sad and melancholy.
They grow to the size of a large Pointer Dog, and are powerful animals, assembling in troops, and playing and associating probably with the Orangs. Stuffed specimens of the Proboscis Monkey are usually simple caricatures, and by no means good ones, for they do not give one-half of the curious appearance of the face. In nature, and in drawings taken shortly after death, the first thing that strikes one is the flat top to the head, and the red hair there, starting from the top of the crown, and radiating in all directions, and coming as a very sharp line straight over the eyebrows, and cutting the forehead very short. Then the prodigious nose, stuck out some inches in front of the mouth, is, with the rest of the face, naked, and of a reddish-brown flesh-colour. The eyes are wide apart and open, and are of a hazel colour. The whiskers clasp the face, as it were, and are brushed back, and join the hair of the neck, whilst the little beard sticks out like a goat’s. The mouth is wide, and the chin recedes. It is a long-bodied creature, and there is a great bend outwards in the back when it squats on its haunches. There is a good-sized chest, there are long arms, still longer legs, and a great tail. The prevailing colour of the back and shoulders is the red or dark-red brown of the head hair, whilst the rest of the body is of a lighter tint, the tail and limbs especially. The thumb of the hand is small, and barely reaches as far as the first finger-joint, but the toe-thumb is large, widely set from the foot, and the skin-fold comes far down it, as also does a web between the toes, the third of which is the longest.
The skull of this Monkey greatly resembles that of the other Semnopitheci. The face part is smaller in comparison with that of the great Apes, but then it is not much larger than the brain case. There is a faint ridge at the side, and the usual one from one ear to the other exists. The front of the face on each side of the opening for the nose is rather larger and more prominent than in some other kinds, but there are no evidences of the existence of the great fleshy and gristly mass which is stuck on in front in life. This swelling of the front of the face in the skull slightly reminds us of a greater one which characterises the Dog-faced Baboons, and, moreover, the similarity is increased by the fact that the upper eye (canine) tooth presses the first tooth behind the lower eye tooth backwards. These little peculiarities are inherited gifts, for the Nasalis and the Baboon probably came from a common ancestor. Perhaps the great fleshy nose of the Semnopithecus Nasalis is a relic of the long face of the ancient Baboon. Shorten the bones of the Baboon’s nose, and leave the soft parts, and there would be left something like the queer features of the Monkey now under consideration.
One must be struck with the long back-bone of this Monkey, its single backward bend, and the long way the ribs seem from the hips; making it like the Gibbons, and very unlike the other great Apes, which have their last ribs close to their hips. The tail is very long, and starts well up the back, that is to say, its origin at the end of the sacrum bone is some distance from the haunches, on which the creature sits. These last are rounded so as to afford comfortable rest, especially as they are covered by the callosities or pads. The feet are long from the metatarsal bones, and the great toe-thumb is accompanied by a long, strong, backward-projecting, and curved-up heel-bone.
The Dyaks call this Monkey the Kaha, for this is the sound which they make when in companies in the woods by the side of the swamps and jungles. There they live a restless life at sunrise and sunset, being quieter in the heat of the day, and crying out at each other. They have fine voices, thanks to their strength, and perhaps to the air sac in their neck, which may render oral sounds more resonant. They are active creatures, and bound from tree to tree, clearing from fifteen to twenty feet with ease.
Being very like extremely ugly humanity, the Dyaks consider them as degraded men, and they give an excellent reason for their human ancestors having left their habits and dwellings. They did not like to pay taxes, so they took to the woods!
It is said that when the ambassadors of Tippoo Saib came to Paris to urge the French to take up his cause against the British in India, they were immensely delighted with the Monkeys with the great noses which were preserved and stuffed in the museum, acknowledging them as compatriots. But as a matter of fact, specimens of this Monkey never had been and never could have been seen by these men, for it does not inhabit the peninsula of India. But it is a fact that when some specimens came over to Paris, preserved in spirits, they excited a wonderful commotion amongst the savans. Broderip was present, and saw one drawn forth, “looking like one of those horrible female fiends sometimes pictured in old woodcuts.
“Not uglier follow the night hag.”
A celebrated French naturalist, who was present at the opening of the casket which contained this zoological jewel, was in raptures, and as the bust emerged he uttered an exclamation significatory of her paternity. We looked in vain for the young imps, which had probably escaped when their poor barrelled-up mother fell. It must be startling to look round in the wilderness of Borneo and behold one of these horrible visages peering, Zamiel-like, from behind the trunk of some dark tree! The impression left on the mind, however, is rather of the comical than of the terrible in its nature after seeing these creatures; but one is obliged to admit that those who see a use in everything may be puzzled to account for this superfluity of nose, for this greatest of all noses does not appear to be like that of the Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, “all the better to smell with.”
But some philosophy may be got out of this nose, and it tends to humiliate the pretensions of those anatomists who can restore an animal if they can only get hold of a bone or two.
This nose is an anatomical excrescence: cut it off, and no bones are cut through; dissect the skull, and then no one could tell that there ever had been such a feature attached to it. The dry bones show no sign of what was during life, and the skull resembles those of the other Semnopitheci. So that animals with the same shaped bones may have very different coverings, and no one could restore the nose of this creature out of his inward consciousness any more than he could imagine, from the back-bones of the animals, that camels and dromedaries have humps thereon.
The animal has a huge air sac, which appears to be single, and to enter the windpipe above the larynx cartilage, and between it and the bone of the tongue. It opens into the membrane which connects these structures (the thyroid membrane) on the left side, and the opening can be closed by the contraction of the muscles which reach from the tongue-bone (os hyoides) to the larynx cartilage (thyroid cartilage--the thyro-hyoid muscles).
But the most interesting part of the internal construction of Nasalis is the great stomach, which does not consist of a simple bag, with an opening for the food to enter from the gullet and œsophagus or food pipe, and with another at the opposite end to carry the digested food to the intestines, but is complex, there being three bags united together. The first two of these bags are for the storage and reception of food, and the other, which ends in the canal leading to the intestines, is for its digestion. This compound stomach is peculiar to the Semnopitheci and the Colobi amongst the Monkeys. It exists in the most perfect form in the animals which chew the cud or ruminate, such as oxen. It is noticed also, more or less, in the Cetacea, or Whale tribe, in the Sloths, in the Cony, or Hyrax, in the fruit-eating Bats of the genus Pteropus, and finally in some Kangaroo-like animals. It is possible that the Semnopitheci may bring back more food into the mouth and chew it again, or the first two expansions of the stomach may be really simple receptacles and storehouses grown in the place of the cheek-pouches; or the condition may be a reversion, or going back, to the condition of some remote ancestor.
The large intestine is also very bulged out here and there, and this and the large stomach occupy much space in the cavity of the belly, compressing the bowels within smaller bounds than in the larger Monkeys.
Bezoars are found in the sacs of the stomach of the different kinds of Semnopitheci, and were and may be still much prized. They are potent charms and remedies against poisons, and are supposed to possess extraordinary virtues. The name comes from the Persian, writes the learned author of the article “Bezoars,” in the “Penny Cyclopædia”--Pêd-zahr, expelling poison, the expeller of poison. “Pêd” is relieving and curing, and “Zahr” is poison. Bezoars are sometimes found in various parts, but chiefly in the stomachs of land animals. They are either natural or artificial, and as they are rare, they are worth many times their weight in gold. Those which were most esteemed in Europe came from the East, and were the earliest used. The most highly prized came from the stomachs of the wild goat of Persia, and they were called by way of eminence, Lapis Bezoar Orientalis, and all such things which were supposed to be antidotes were called Bezoardic. They are still esteemed in the East, but have long fallen into disuse in Europe, the chemist and the naturalist having abolished their value by exposing their real nature. They are the round hard balls which are found in the stomachs of many animals, and which consist of hair licked off and swallowed, and food of every clinging nature cemented together by mucus. They get too large to pass out of the stomach, either by vomiting or by going through the small canal into the intestine, and therefore become round by being rolled about, and often very great. Very large ones are discovered in some horses which are found at work near flour and bran mills. The Americans got theirs from the Llama, and they consisted principally of phosphate of lime. Perhaps the earliest of all physics was bezoardic, and it consisted of the heart and liver of vipers, pounded up for the benefit of the invalid. Fortunately, bezoars disappeared from the list of useful drugs years ago, with the crabs’-claws, oyster-shells, powdered centipedes, and other medical delicacies with which our forefathers were drenched in good faith and secundum artem.
THE HOONUMAN MONKEY.[29]
This is the most sacred of the sacred Monkeys of the Hindoos, and when full-grown, measures four feet and a half in length, and the tail is considerably longer than the body. An ashy-grey tint distinguishes the upper part of the body, and it is darkest on the tail, which is of equal thickness throughout. The rest of the body is of a dingy yellow colour, or rusty brown, and the arms, hands, and feet are dusky black. The long face is blackish; and above the eyebrows is a line of long stiff projecting black hairs. A greyish-white beard passes round the face, and extends upwards, and is thicker in front of the ears, which are long and prominent and black. Finally, this face has a few hairs by way of a beard beneath the chin, which projects.
A long-legged, active creature is the Entellus. It associates in great troops, and they keep up a constant noise and quarrel. Those that abound--thanks to the belief in their semi-divinity by the Hindoos--near towns and plantations are certainly more sharp, clever, and impudent than their less fortunate fellows. They watch and steal with impunity and ability, and are amusing when young, but savage and disagreeable when old. The young differ much in shape from the old adults, and their limbs seem very disproportioned at first. They have a staid look about them, and a tranquil eye, and the forehead is broad and high, the muzzle only slightly prominent, and the brain-case large. But with age this alters; the tints of the body get darker, the body larger, the muzzle elongates, and the forehead appears to contract, and to be no longer an object of human resemblance. The disposition changes also, for the tame and amusing young learn a number of tricks and are full of fun; but this is succeeded by a look and behaviour of distrust and fierceness.
The Entellus Monkey is not found from Cape Comorin to the Himalayan Mountains, as is usually asserted; and Captain Hutton has shown that it is “entirely and absolutely restricted, within narrow limits, to the hot tropical plains of the north-western Gangetic provinces, where, from the degree of protection which its imputed ‘odour of sanctity’ is so well calculated to cast around it, as well as from the numbers in which it frequently occurs, it becomes a perfect nuisance in those parts of the country where the superstitious veneration for it most strongly prevails. In many places where the natives, from religious motives, are in the habit of feeding and protecting them, the roofs of the village huts are at certain hours of the day literally crowded with them, and the depredations committed in grain shops, gardens, and among neighbouring crops, are most miscreant-like.” The Entellus has been purposely introduced elsewhere, but is naturally confined to the right banks of the Ganges and Hooghly. They will not cross water of their own accord, and there appears to be a notion in the minds of the Hindoos that if there are males on one side and females on the other bank of the river, and plenty of boats between, the sexes will never mix, but that the males have great fights together. This is, however, one of the many fictions of those races who rarely study Nature. Some of these Monkeys were introduced to Kishunghur, in Lower Bengal, across the rivers, by devotees, and the offspring of one pair increased to such an extent as to become a perfect nuisance, so that in 1867 a large number of the native community presented a petition, praying that measures might be taken by the municipality to destroy some of the too numerous Monkeys that infested the station, causing fearful havoc among the fruit and grain. An order was issued, and 500 were killed. “There must be many thousands,” wrote a correspondent of the Delhi Gazette. This act was soon succeeded by another petition from a different section of the native population for the cancelment of the order to kill what they called their long deceased ancestors. The Entellus is not found in Africa, nor amongst the Himalayas; neither does it migrate from the upper to the lower districts of Bengal at special seasons. The Himalayan Semnopitheci are the Langoor and another--the Semnopithecus pileatus and Semnopithecus barbei.
It was stated formerly that the Entellus could be seen on Simla all the year through; but when the snow falls during the winter it seeks a warmer climate in the depths of the Khuds, returning again to the heights as it melts away. They may be seen, however, on a fine sunshiny day, even with the snow on the ground, leaping from tree to tree up and down a hill in Simla, which is at about an elevation of 8,115 feet. All this is a mistake; and it is the Langoor, not the Hoonuman, or Entellus, which does all this. It is the Langoor Monkey which Dr. Royle saw at an elevation of 9,000 feet during the summer months, and which Captain Hutton observed when on Hatu mountain, close to Simla, at an elevation of 10,650 feet, and at Simla during winter with snow four or five inches deep, and frost at night.
Whether the Entellus is found in the Deccan, and to the south, appears to be matter of doubt but probably the long-tailed Monkeys, seen in multitudes near houses or only in the forests, belong to a Semnopithecus closely allied in shape and ornamentation to it. One, the Semnopithecus Johnii, rarely leaves the forest lands, and is seen in Malabar.
Evidently the natives do not discriminate between the species and the varieties of it, as we may. They consider all of them possibly to be endowed with the mind of an ancestor, and that it may be their lot to have their soul placed within the body of some Monkey or other.
They attribute to the Hoonuman the stealing of the delicious fruit the mango, and its introduction into Hindostan; but the legend asserts that the hero Ape who did this, stole the fruit from the garden of a giant, who lived in Ceylon, and that afterwards he resolved to set fire to Ceylon, and destroy his enemies by a lighted tar-barrel tied to his tail; but he burnt his hands and feet black, and they remain so to the present day. Unfortunately for the truth of this legend, the Entellus never was in Ceylon.
The Entellus is occasionally to be seen in the Zoological Gardens of London, but it is a very delicate creature. It likes quiet play and some solemn stillness, and therefore it is not kept with the vivacious African Monkeys, but with the Long-tailed Americans.
One of the most striking of the Semnopitheci is wonderfully like some of the Indians of the far west of America in their war-paint, so far as the head is concerned. This is
THE CROWNED MONKEY.[30]
Its colour is brown, becoming very dark and almost black on the back, loins, and outsides of the thighs, and around the fore-arms and lower leg. The muzzle is rather prominent, and there is a white patch over the nose on the forehead. The crest of long hair sticks up like that of a Cockatoo, and is rather brushed backwards, whilst a whisker, which is continuous with it, comes forward and hides the cheeks.
All the proportions of the limbs are those of the genus, and the tail, which hangs down, is long and slender. It comes from Borneo.
THE RED SEMNOPITHECUS.[31]
This is an active little Monkey, and a great tree climber; it greatly resembles the last in shape, but it has a shorter muzzle, and the whole body is a bright reddish-brown, the face being blue and naked, the eyes hazel. A crest of hair sticks up on the top of the head, and the bulk of it points backwards, whilst the front comes over the forehead like thatch, and the whiskers are brushed outwards. It is called Kalassi in Borneo.
This diversity of colouring, which must astonish every one who has seen Temminck’s beautiful plates of the Semnopitheci, must be received cautiously as a proof of the different colours meaning different kinds. For in Semnopithecus chrysomeles the male is dark brown, and only lighter in tint underneath, whilst the female is light brown, with a splash or two of black on the front legs. They both have blue faces. In this instance the female and the male might have been called by different names. The same thing occurs in the Sumatran Monkey, in which the female is light brown and the male is a most extraordinary-looking yellow. His hair seems brushed back most violently, the blue face is very short and straight; he has a reddish chin, a white throat, inside of arms, and legs, and belly, and under part of tail, but all the rest is black, with a shade of lighter tint behind the ears and on the back.
All these are very curious-looking when young, for then the head appears too big for the body, and the stomach is always large; moreover, the little Proboscis Monkey looks like a boy with his hair parted down the front, and who has a blue face and a tail.
THE DOUC, OR VARIEGATED MONKEY.[32]
This Monkey is perhaps the most gaily clad of all this group, and in this departs in a most marked manner from the dull sameness of the fur of the Apes already described in the former chapters. Not only is the long hair very different in colour in several parts of the body, but the hairs themselves are variegated, having bands of various tints upon them, differing thus from the whole-coloured hairs of the great Apes.
The animal has the usual shape of the Semnopitheci; but the whiskers brushed back, as they appear to be, make the naked and orange-coloured face look broad. These whiskers are long, and are of glossy whiteness, and above they join the hair of the forehead, which is black in front, gradually becoming grizzled grey. This is the tint of the head, and of the back of the neck and back. The thighs, fingers, and toes are black, the legs and ankles are bright red, fore-arms, throat, and underneath the legs, the buttocks, and the tail are pure white, and the white throat is surrounded by a more or less complete circle of bright red. They live in the woods of Cochin China, and have been met with not far from the coast. They assemble in troops, but appear to be good-tempered and easily frightened, and this appears to be all that is known of their nature. But they yielded to the researches of the anatomist the same internal arrangement of the cavities of the stomach which has been noticed in describing the Long-nosed Monkey.
THE BLACK-LEGGED DOUC.[33]
The forests on the banks of the Me-kong, near Saigon in Cochin China, are tenanted by a fine Douc which, instead of having the red legs of the true Douc (Semnopithecus nemæus), has them of a black colour from the root of the tail to the tips of the toes. Moreover, in this animal the fore legs are greyish-black, dotted with white, whilst those of the other Douc are whitish. Of course these distinctions are not sufficient to separate these Doucs specifically, and they must be considered races or local varieties, the black-footed one living more to the south than the other. If this be correct, and it must be on the principle that a negro and a white man are only races of the genus Homo, and that a black and a white rabbit are of the same kind, colour is a point of little importance.
The Black-legged Douc has its face almost naked, and surmounted by a band of hairs on the forehead. These stand out, and are directed forwards. In the other Douc these hairs, of a less black tint, are brushed, as it were, backwards. Now, an attempt has been made by Geoffroy St. Hilaire to arrange the kinds of Semnopitheci by the direction and peculiarities of their head-dresses, and if this plan were carried out the true Douc would be in one section--that of those with the hair brushed back--and the black-legged one, which is only a variety, and not a separate species, would have to be placed in another. Hence, this plan is worthless.
This Douc has a very human face and a small head, a large chest, a thin abdomen, very long hind-legs and tail, and short fore-legs.
The skull of the Douc has large and open orbits, faint side crests, and faint crests passing from the ear over the occiput. The face is small in relation to the brain-case, and the shape of the whole differs greatly from that of the Troglodytes in this respect. The lower jaw is angular behind, and the portion (the ascending branch or ramus) which leads up to the joint is very straight. The teeth in it are of the same number as those of the Gibbons; but the last grinder is long, and has a very distinct heel-like back, point, or cusp. The other four points, or cusps, are placed two in front and two behind them, those in front are united by a cross ridge, then comes a hollow across the tooth, and then the back pairs, which are united by a ridge, and then the heel follows. The other crushing molar teeth have four cusps, in pairs, each pair having a common cross ridge, and the pairs are separated by a furrow. The teeth are close together, and the first false molar is smaller than the second. The upper jaw projects a little, and the front jaw-bone (pre-maxillary) remains distinct. Its crushing teeth have four points, or cusps, but the outline of the teeth is not straight at the sides, but doubly curved, so that the entrance of the curves is between the cusps, and it corresponds to the furrow. All this gives a very animal look to the teeth.
It must be remembered that these teeth are used more for crushing soft vegetable matters than for cracking nuts, and things which can be stowed away in a cheek-pouch and devoured at leisure. Hence the difference between the teeth of these and of the Macaques.
THE CEYLON LOW-COUNTRY WANDEROO--THE WHITE-BEARDED MONKEY.[34]
“When observed in their native wilds,” writes Sir James Emerson Tennent, “a party of twenty or thirty of these creatures are generally busily engaged in the search for berries and buds. They are seldom to be seen on the ground, and then only when they have descended to recover seeds or fruit that have fallen at the foot of their favourite trees. In their alarm, when disturbed, their leaps are prodigious, but generally speaking their progress is made not so much by leaping as by swinging from branch to branch, using their powerful arms alternately, and when baffled by distance, flinging themselves obliquely so as to catch the lower boughs of an opposite tree, the momentum acquired by their descent being sufficient to cause a rebound, that sends then again upwards, till they can grasp a higher branch, and thus continue their headlong flight.”
This Monkey is very active and intelligent, and is not very mischievous, and, indeed, is much less so than the other Monkeys of Ceylon. In captivity it is remarkable for the gravity of its behaviour, and for an air of melancholy in its expression and movements, which is completely in character with its snowy beard and venerable aspect. Its disposition is gentle and confiding; it is in the highest degree sensible of kindness, and eager for endearing attentions, uttering a low plaintive cry when its sympathies are excited. It is particularly cleanly in its habits when domesticated, and spends much of its time in cleaning its fur, and carefully divesting it of the least particle of dust.
The Nestor is about sixteen inches in length (the body and head), and the tail measures twenty inches. The prevailing colour is a deep grey, with a slight tinge of brown, becoming paler on the back of the neck and on the tail, where the previous tinge is more marked. The hands and lower part of the limbs are nearly black. Its lips, chin, and whiskers are nearly pure white, the tips of the latter, which are brushed backwards, being grey. There is a stiff ridge of black hairs over the eyebrows, and they are about an inch and a half in length. The moderate length of the hairs, the light colour and the white of the lower sides of the face, are distinctive. It inhabits the southern and western provinces of Ceylon, and is found at a higher elevation than even 1,300 feet.
THE MAHA, THE GREAT WANDEROO.[35]
This is a larger Monkey than the last, and lives in the hills higher up the country of Ceylon than the Nestor. It is wilder and more powerful than its lowland neighbour, and is rarely seen by Europeans. It clings to the deep woods, and seldom approaches the few roads which have been made through these solitudes. There is a good deal of the Bear in its general appearance, and Major Forbes, travelling in Ceylon, noticed this first of all. He says:--“A species of very large Monkey, that passed some distance before me, when resting on all-fours looked so like a Ceylon Bear that I took him for one.” Hence the name Ursinus.
Another very rare Monkey in Ceylon is, for some hidden cause, named Semnopithecus Thersites. Thersites was the most ugly and the most impudent talker of the Greeks before Troy, and probably this Monkey is ugly and impudent in the extreme. It is deficient in the head-tuft, which adds to the beauty of the genus; but its temper is good, and it is grateful. One which was caught was fond of being noticed and petted, stretching out his limbs in succession to be scratched, drawing himself up so that his ribs might be reached by the finger, and closing his eyes during the operation, evincing his satisfaction by grimaces absolutely ludicrous. He was fond of fresh vegetables, plantains, and fruit, and ate freely of boiled rice, beans, and grain.
The last Ceylonese Monkey to be noticed is the Semnopithecus Priamus.
It inhabits the northern and eastern provinces, and the wooded hills which occur in those portions of the island. In appearance it differs both in size and in colour from the common Wanderoo (S. Nestor), being larger and greyer, and its habits are much less reserved. Where the population is comparatively numerous, these Monkeys become so familiarised with the presence of man as to exhibit the utmost daring and indifference. A flock of them will take possession of a Palmyra palm, and so effectually can they crowd and conceal themselves among the leaves that, on the slightest danger, the whole party becomes invisible on the instant. The presence of a Dog, however, excites such an irrepressible curiosity, that, in order to watch his movements, they never fail to betray themselves. They may be seen frequently congregated on the roof of a native hut; and some years ago the child of a European clergyman having been left on the ground by the nurse, was so teased and bitten by them as to cause its death. The Ceylon people hold the singular belief that the remains of a Monkey are never found in the forest--a belief which they have embodied in a proverb, that “He who has seen a white crow, the nest of the piddybird, a straight cocoa-nut tree, or a dead Monkey, is certain to live for ever.” “This piece of folk-lore has evidently reached Ceylon from India,” writes Sir J. Emerson Tennent, from whose work the extract is taken, “where it is believed that persons dwelling on the spot where a Hoonuman Monkey (Semnopithecus entellus) has been killed, will die, and that even its bones are unlucky, and that no house erected where they are hid will prosper. Hence, when a house is to be built, one of the employments of wise men is to ascertain by their science that none such are concealed; and Buchanan observes that it is perhaps owing to the fear of this ill-luck that no native will acknowledge having seen a dead Hoonuman.”
Sir J. Emerson Tennent describes the method in which these Priamus Monkeys attack a garden, which is quite after the fashion of modern human military tactics. A green sward separated the garden of one of his friends from the jungle, and across this a single Monkey would cautiously steal about twenty paces, and halt to assure himself, by eye and ear, that all was safe. Presently a second would venture out from the trees, pass in front of the first, and squat himself after making another reconnaissance. A third and a fourth would then stealthily approach, always gaining an advance beyond the last vedette, and finally the whole body, having ascertained the absence of danger, advanced hastily but noiselessly to the enclosure; and having with infinite rapidity secured a sufficient supply of fruit, the troop dispersed simultaneously, with a rush and an exulting scamper, conscious that caution was no longer necessary. Possibly this Monkey becomes occasionally an albino, for white Monkeys having the general shape of the Priamus are captured every now and then not far from Colombo; and Spence Hardy mentions, in his work on “Eastern Monachism,” that on the occasion of his visit to the Great Temple of Dambool he encountered a troop of white Monkeys on the rock on which it is situated.
In the Semnopitheci and in the species of the next genus (Colobos) the face is long, the forehead rounded, and there is a decided angle to the jaw, so that the facial angle is considerable.[36]
GENUS COLOBOS.[37]
All the Monkeys of the genus Semnopithecus which have been found by travellers and naturalists live in Asia and its islands, and thus their geographical limit is precise. Now, there are some Monkeys which resemble them in most points, and which are only found in the forests of tropical Africa; that is to say, in Abyssinia on the east, and from Gambia to Angola on the west. They are also found on the Island of Fernando Po. These have the thumbs of the hands extremely small, and they are but mere useless projections. They are Semnopitheci without thumbs, and the Greek word κολοβός (“docked or stunted”) has been used to designate them.
The kinds of Monkeys included in the genus Colobos are not very numerous, and they are interesting more on account of their beautiful skins, which form ornaments and articles of commerce in Africa, and for those suggestions which must occur to the mind of every one who thinks a little about natural history, regarding the cause of the absence of such an important structure as the thumb in a group of animals, whose other characters are similar to those of a genus possessing it. Very little is known about their habits in a state of nature, and few have ever been brought alive to Europe.
The thumb is not seen in the least in one kind of Colobos, the true Colobos (Colobos verus); in others it is like a little knob, but in none is it of any use. In the corresponding member of other Monkeys there are three bones, one placed before the other. The first, the metacarpal, is the nearest the wrist, and is jointed to the wrist-bone called trapezium, and in front it is in contact with the second bone, or the first phalanx of the thumb. This is ended by the second phalanx, which bears the nail. These are terms used by anatomists, and the word metacarpal means “the next in order of rank to the wrist.” These metacarpal bones intervene between the knuckles and the wrist, and are long and parallel with each other, there being five in the hand. They are not usually very movable on the wrist, but that of the thumb is, and they have a joint at the further end which unites them with the so-called internode or phalanx-bone, No. 1. The word internode means between joints, and the term phalanx is one of those unmeaning applications of Greek terms which abound in anatomy. The phalanx was an order of battle, and means rows placed in parallel order: the internodes of the fingers, when in place, are one before the other and side by side, like the soldiers in the Greek order of battle. Each phalanx represents a bone: there are two in the thumb, and three in the other fingers. In the Colobos there is a joint on the wrist-bone for a thumb, but no thumb exists, but there is just a little vestige of a bone, and it is probably the first phalanx, or internode, and not the metacarpal.
The thumb is therefore “rudimentary” in the genus Colobos, and why? The animals are tree-climbers and active jumpers, and can run very well on all-fours; in fact, their method of life and of motion is that of the Monkeys which have well-formed thumbs. The notion of a useless organ is at first repulsive to our ideas of the benevolent scheme of Nature. Mr. Darwin writes, “In reflecting on them every one must be struck with astonishment; for the same reasoning power which tells us plainly that most parts and organs are exquisitely adapted for certain purposes tells us with equal plainness that these rudimentary or atrophied organs are imperfect or useless.” Let us take a well-known instance of such a structure: the Calf when born has cutting teeth in its upper jaw hidden in the gum; they are not in sockets, and even if they were, they would be of no use in biting. The Ox has no cutting or incisor teeth in its upper jaw, as every one knows, and the tongue touches a hard and moist gum there. The incisor teeth of the Calf are never cut, but they are gradually absorbed in the gum with age. Now what is their meaning? They are of no use in sucking, or in anything which occurs in the early life of the animal: they are clearly useless and rudimentary or atrophied structures. Take another example: the little Kiwi bird of New Zealand has no wings with which to fly, yet the bones are there in a dwarfed and rudimentary condition; many insects have no wings, or have them so reduced in size that they are of no use in flight, and sometimes the males have them in perfection, and the females have none. In explaining this subject two courses are open, first, to beg the question, and to say that the design of the Creator was thus; or to account for it on the principle that the Creator acts by law, and that creatures become modified and altered by inherent power, and by having to obey the force of surrounding circumstances generation after generation.
In the instance of the male and female insect just noticed, the male is active, and has to search for his partner, and the female is a stay-at-home, and expects to be courted, and when mated to do nothing more than lay eggs. Her wings would be of doubtful value. We may believe, then, that disuse, generation after generation, gradually weakened the wing, and finally Nature, ever economical in not-used organs, did not perpetuate it. Disuse may be therefore considered as the principal cause of the atrophy, rudimentary condition, and of the final deficiency of structures. But disuse will not produce this in one generation, but in many, so it is necessary to look farther back into the ancestry of the creatures which have rudimentary organs. The four-legged ruminating or cud-chewing animals have bones and feet of peculiar arrangement, and there is no difficulty in at once knowing a ruminant by its bones. Now, in former ages, and before there was a trace of man on the globe, there were ruminants, as known by their bones found in strata or deposits, and they had incisor teeth in their upper jaws when full grown, and not only when in the calf condition. The inference to be drawn is, that the modern Oxen are the descendants of those ancient forms with incisor teeth, and that disuse, probably produced by the introduction of grass-feeding on a grand scale, instead of leaf-and bud-nibbling, gradually diminished the strength and permanence of the front upper teeth, and finally only left the simple traces of them which we have mentioned. Disuse by ancestral forms, by the forefathers, and the carrying down the weakened and atrophied state of the structure or organs, are the most important considerations in any attempt at the explanation of the seeming paradox. In endeavouring to apply this style of reasoning to the Colobos group--the Semnopitheci without thumbs--it must be asked, is there any evidence of the great antiquity of these Monkeys, and are there any evidences of anything wrong about the thumbs of their Asiatic allies?
It is remarkable, and bears strongly upon this point, that some of the fossil remains of animals found in India, on the flanks of the Himalayan Mountains, have a closer resemblance to a large Semnopithecus Monkey than to any other, and to one belonging to a kind much like the Entellus. The bony remains were found in collections of shingle, clay, and sand of great depth, and which included also the remains of the bones of Elephants, Giraffes, Hippopotamidæ, Crocodiles, and fresh-water Tortoises, and other land and fresh-water creatures. The deposits had accumulated in lakes and swamps in the plain near the distant flanks of a low range of hills, the ancient foundations of the present great snowy range, and then upheaval took place, which gave the very home of snow (Himalaya) its present vast altitude. The plains, lakes, and swamps were lifted up and tilted, and their relics are now found resting at a considerable angle on the main chain, and covered and folded over by the pressure exercised during the marvellous change in the physical geography of the district. Semnopitheci lived in India, then, before the Himalayas were a great chain of mountains, and they lived with animals which were African as well as Asiatic in their character. The vast age of the groups of Monkeys must be admitted, for the Himalayas are as old as the Alps, and as both have been worn down into their present condition of peak, pass, and valley since they were uplifted, their age is incalculable by years. The former connection of Africa and Asia by means of intermediate land, which is now the floor of the Indian Ocean, to the west of Hindostan, may be reasonably asserted to have been severed at the same time when the mountains far away to the north-east received their breadth and height. So that before these great terrestrial changes occurred, Semnopitheci could have either an Indian or an African home. Disuse of the fore-thumbs in branch-crawling or swinging may then have commenced before that geological age in which these things happened, and it may have progressed very decidedly in Africa, and not so much in Asia. Hence the Semnopitheci here have rather small thumbs, and the African groups, separated by the physico-geographical change, and disusing generation after generation, have gradually lost the structure.
The Colobi resemble the Semnopitheci in the construction of their compound-looking stomach.
THE GUEREZA.[38]
There is something very un-monkey-like in the shape of this Abyssinian animal, for it has long white hair, resembling the edge of a cloak, along its sides, and a long tail with a tuft to it. The natives chase it, and are fond of having some of their long hairy skins to cover their shields with. Assembling in little troops, the Guereza keeps well up in the tallest trees, in the neighbourhood of running water. They feed on fruit, grain, and insects, and are inoffensive and wild. The fur is certainly very prettily arranged, and the black and white truly oppose each other well. The colour of the fur of the head and of the greater part of the body is black, but the forehead is white, so are the sides of the face, the throat, and the sides of the neck. There is a mantle-like mop of long hairs starting from the region near the ribs, and the lower part of the back, and covering the flanks in a train behind. It is of a white colour, and exists in both sexes; nevertheless, it is longest in the females and adults. The tail is white, hairy, and tufted.
* * * * *
Another of the Colobi has a very dignified look given to it by a large mass of hair which covers its neck and shoulders like a little cloak. It has slim legs and a long tail. For some reason or other the natives in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone call it the King of the Monkeys. The face and limbs and body are black, and a great mass of hair starting from the forehead and brushed back from the sides of the face and chin, the neck and shoulders all round, falls down on all sides. This is of a dusky yellow colour. The tail is white. It is called the Cloaked or Many-haired Colobos (Colobos polycomos).
As if to contrast kinds of the genus Colobos, which have great general resemblances, Nature has provided some with red-coloured fur, instead of black and white; for instance, the Bay Monkey (Colobos ferrugineus); and finally, one very interesting species which, like all those mentioned, except the Guereza, comes from West Africa; it has a short fur of an olive colour, with a grey tint beneath and on the limbs. It has no long hairs on the body, and its tail is long and thin. This Colobos verus has not a vestige of a thumb. There are eleven species of this genus.
Besides the fossil Semnopithecus found in the Himalayas others have been discovered in Greece, Würtemberg, and at Montpellier, and in strata of Mid-Tertiary and of Pliocene Age.