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