so tightly as to hurt it. It was rather savage at first, and tried to bite; but when we
had released it and given it two poles under the verandah to hang upon, securing
it by a short cord, running along the pole with a ring so that it could move easily,
it became more contented, and would swing itself about with great rapidity. It
ate almost any kind of fruit and rice, and I was in hopes to have brought it to
England, but it died just before I started. It took a dislike to me at first, which I
tried to get over by feeding it constantly myself. One day, however, it bit me so
sharply while giving it food, that I lost patience and gave it rather a severe
beating, which I regretted afterwards, as from that time it disliked me more than
ever. It would allow my Malay boys to play with it, and for hours together would
swing by its arms from pole to pole and on to the rafters of the 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
alive before, although it is not uncommon in some parts of the Malay peninsula.
As the Orangutan is known to inhabit Sumatra, and was in fact first
discovered there, I made many inquiries about it; but none of the natives had
ever heard of such an animal, nor could I find any of the Dutch officials who
knew anything about it. We may conclude, therefore, that it does not inhabit the
great forest plains in the east of Sumatra where one would naturally expect to
find it, but is probably confined to a limited region in the northwest part of the
island entirely in the hands of native rulers. The other great Mammalia of
Sumatra, the elephant and the rhinoceros, are more widely distributed; but the
former is much more scarce than it was a few years ago, and seems to retire
rapidly before the spread of cultivation. Lobo Kaman tusks and bones are
occasionally found about in the forest, but the living animal is now never seen.
The rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sumatranus) still abounds, and I continually saw its
tracks and its dung, and once disturbed one feeding, which went crashing away
through the jungle, only permitting me a momentary glimpse of it through the
dense underwood. I obtained a tolerably perfect cranium, and a number of teeth,
which were picked up by the natives.
Another curious animal, which I had met with in Singapore and in Borneo, but
which was more abundant here, is the Galeopithecus, or flying lemur. This
creature has a broad membrane extending all around its body to the extremities
of the toes, and to the point of the rather long tail. This enables it to pass
obliquely through the air from one tree to another. It is sluggish in its motions, at
least by day, going up a tree by short runs of a few feet, and then stopping a
moment as if the action was difficult. It rests during the day clinging to the
trunks of trees, where its olive or brown fur, mottled with irregular whitish spots