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Show 28 climb up on the approach of danger oron the obtru ion of strangers. He walks rather quw· k I·n t h c erect posture ' but w.i th a waddh. ng gai. t, and I.S soon run d ow n if' wh il t pursued ' he has no opportuni' ty of escapi· ng by climbing. ... When he walks I. n the erect posture h e t urns the leg and foot out-wards which occasions him to have a waddling gait and to ' seem bow-legged." Dr. Burrough states of another Gibbon, the IIorlack or Hooluk: u They walk erect; and when placedo~ the floo:'. or in ~n open field, balance themselves very prettily, by rmsing their hands over their head and slightly bending the arm at the wrist and elbow, and then run tolerably fast, rocking from side to side ; and, if urged to greater speed, they let fall their hands to the ground, and assist them elves forward, rather jumping than running, still keeping the body, however, nearly erect." Somewhat different evidence, however, is given by Dr. Winslow Lewis : * "Their only manner of walking wa on their po t rior or inferior extremities, the others being raised upwards to preserve their equilibrium, as rope-dancer are a si t d by long poles at fairs. Their progre ion was not by placing one foot before the other, but by simultaneou ly u ing both, a in jumping." Dr. Salomon Muller al o state that the Gibbons progress upon the ground by hort erics of tottering jump , effected only by the hind limbs, the body being held altogether upright. But, Mr. Martin, (1. c. p. 418) who al o speaks from direct observation, says of the Gibbons generally : "Pre-eminently qualified for arboreal habits, and eli playing among the branche amazing activity, the Gibbon arc not so awkward or cmbarras ed on a level urfacc a might be imagined. They walk erect, with a waddling or unsteady gait, but at a quick pace; the equilibrium of the body *' Bost n ,Journal of Jnturnl Ilist ll'Y Vol. I. 1 .'3·1. 29 requiring to be kept up, either by touching the ground with t.he. knuckles, first on one side then on the other, or by uplifting the arms so as to poise it. As with the Chimpanzee, the whole of the narrow, long sole of the foot is placed upon the ground at once and raised at once, without any elasticity of step." . After this mass of concurrent and independent testimony, 1t canno~ reasonably be doubted that the Gibbons commonly and habitually assume the erect attitude. But level ground is not the place where these animals can display their very remarkable and peculiar locomotive powers, and that prodigious activity which almost tempts one to rank them among flying, rather than among ordinary climbing mammals. Mr. Martin (I. c. p. 430) has given so excellent and graphic an account of the movements of a Hylobates agilis, living in the Zoological Gardens, in 1840, that I will quote it in full: "It is almost impossible to convey in words an idea of the ~uickness and graceful address of her movements: they may 1ndeed be termed aerial, as she seems merely to touch in her progress the branches among which she exhibits her evolutions. In ~hese feats her hands and arms are the sole organs of lo~on1ohon; her body hanging as if supended by a rope, sustained by one hand (the right, for example), she launches he~self, by an energetic movement, to a distant branch, whiCh she catches with the left hand; but her hold is less th~n momentary : the impulse for the next launch is acquued: t~e branch ~hen aimed at is attained by the right hand again, and quitted instantaneously, and so on, in a~ternate succession. In this manner spaces of twelve and ~Ighteen feet are cleared) with the greatest ease and unInterruptedly, for. hours. together, without the slightest appearance of fatigue bmng manifested; and it is evident that, i~ mo~e space could be allowed, distances very greatly exceeding eighteen feet would be as easily cleared. so that Duvaucel's assertion that he has seen these animals launch |