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Show 1903.] HABITS OF THE IIOOLOCK. 189 This weakness he shares with man, but I do not know whether (or not) it has been noted in the other anthropoids. It is a significant fact that the range of the Hoolock is bounded by two vast rivers, the Brahmaputra on the north and the Irawaddi on the south. It may well be that, with his natural aversion to water, these rivers have confined him to the comparatively limited stretch of country he occupies. Travelling high up in the jungle, he could swing easily across the ordinary streams which would come in his path without having to take to the water. The monkeys of India take readily to water, and it is a pretty sight to see them spring out from a lofty overhanging bough and drop, one after another, with a splash into the stream, and strike out boldly for the farther bank. In Cachar, where these notes were written, the tea-planters often keep Hoolocks for years, allowing them to run loose about the compound, and they are certainly the cleanest and most interesting pets imaginable, offering a very marked contrast in this respect to the red monkeys, which, chained to a pole, are so common a feature in Indian compounds. A Hoolock, to be tamed in this way, must be caught quite young, and not tied or shut up in any way. A native boy is generally told off to watch him for a few days, and to prevent him from bolting, but he soon learns to come down from the trees for a plantain, and he will in most cases settle down to a solitary life, remaining about the same compound for years. But chain him or restrain his liberty in any way, and he inevitably begins to mope and pine, and invariably dies in a few weeks. It is strange that the calls of the wild Hoolocks, which he must hear almost daily all round him, do not tempt him to revert to his natural life as a member of a wandering community. I imagine a Hoolock, who attempted to join a strange band, would meet with a rough reception, anyway they never try to return to the jungle after they become tame. Several such tame Hoolocks I have had the opportunity of observing for some months past. Often they will be away up in the tree-tops for days together, when nothing will tempt them down, but when one chooses to be sociable he will come and sit on the arm of your chair at breakfast, and never reach or snatch things off the table: in fact his manners are unexceptionable, and lie keeps his skin beautifully clean without that exaggerated parade of flea-hunting which makes the monkey tribe so objectionable as pets. At sunset you may see him settle down to sleep, jam m e d tight in a fork in a squatting position. In this semi-domesticated state I notice that the Hoolock seldom uses his voice. I suppose, leading a solitary bachelor life, he finds 110 necessity for chattering or calling. With regard to the diet of the Hoolock, Dr. Blanford, the Indian naturalist, gives a long list, including fruit, leaves, young shoots, spiders, insects, birds' eggs and young birds. But, it seems to me, the diet of such shy creatures must be largely a matter of conjecture, for 110 certain |
