“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.”