A. _Javan Race_ (_H. leuciscus_).
_Simia leucisca_, Schreber, Säugeth. i., pl. iii. b. (1775).
_Pithecus leuciscus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 89 (1812).
{155}_Hylobates leuciscus_, Kuhl, Beitr. Zool., p. 6 (1820); Desmar.
Mamm., p. 51 (1820); Martin, Mammif. An., p. 416 (1841); Is. Geoffr.,
Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 7 (1851); Wagner, Schreb., Säugeth. Suppl. v., p.
16 (1855); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 15 (1870); H. O. Forbes,
Nat. Wand. East. Arch., p. 70 (1875); Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 19
(1876); Anderson, Zool. Res. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 7 (1878; with full
synonymy).
B. _Bornean Race_ (_H. concolor_).
_Simia concolor_, Harlan, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil., v., p. 229 pl. ii.
(1827).
_Hylobates harlani_, Less., Bull. des Sc. Nat., xiii., p. 111 (1827).
_Hylobates concolor_, Schl., Essai Phys. Serp., p. 237 (1837); S. Müller,
Verhand. Gesch., p. 48 (1841); Blyth, J. A. S. Beng., x., p. 838 (1841);
Martin, Mammif. An., p. 417 (1841); Fry, P. Z. S., 1846, p. 15; Wagner in
Schreb. Säugeth. Suppl. v., p. 17 (1855; in part); Schleg., Mus.
Pays-Bas, vii., p. 20 (1876); Anderson, Zool. Res. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 11
(1878).
_Hylobates mülleri_, Martin, Mammif. Anim., p. 444 (1841); Is. Geoffr.,
Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 7 (1851); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 21
(1876); Anderson, Zool. Res. Exped. Yun-nan, p. 8 (1878; with full
synonymy); Hose, Mammals of Borneo, p. 6 (1893).
_Hylobates funereus_, Is. Geoffr., C. R., xxxi., p. 874 (Dec., 1850);
Wagner in Schreb. Säugeth. Suppl. v., p. 18 (1855).
_? Hylobates fuscus_, Winslow Lewis, Bost. Journ. N. Hist., i., pt. i.,
p. 32, pls. i., ii. (1834).
CHARACTERS.--Fur thick, long and woolly. General colour ashy-grey, paler on
the lower back and rump; hair round {156}the face grey; superciliary streak
white; top of the head black; fingers and toes black.
This species has been found to possess occasionally a supernumerary finger
on each hand.
DISTRIBUTION.--The Indo-Malayan Sub-region. Java, Borneo, and the Sulu
Archipelago between Borneo and the Philippines.
HABITS.--The Wau-Wau--the Malay name for this Gibbon--is one of the first
of the Quadrumana that makes its presence known to the traveller in Java,
when he reaches its upland forest regions. In the evening, just about
sundown, and more especially in the early morning commencing before sunrise
and finally ceasing when the sun is above the tops of the trees, he will be
surprised by a sudden outbreak of what appears to be now the loud plaintive
wailings of a crowd of women, now the united howling of a band of
castigated children. The present writer's first acquaintance with this
charming genus of Monkeys was made among the Kosala hills in Western Java,
and it will ever remain with him as one of many most pleasant recollections
of a long tropical sojourn. Their "woo-oo-ut--woo-ut--woo-oo-ut--wut-wut-
wut--w[)u]t-w[)u]t-w[)u]t," always more dolorous on a dull heavy morning
previous to rain, is just such a cry as one might expect from the sorrowful
countenance so characteristic of the species of _Hylobates_. The Wau-Wau
has a wonderfully human look in its eyes; and it was with great distress
that the writer witnessed the death of the only one he ever shot. Falling
on its back with a thud on the ground, it raised itself on its elbows,
passed its long taper fingers over the wound, gave a woeful look at them
and at his slayer, then fell back at full length--dead--"saperti orang"
(just like a man), as his Malay companion remarked. He kept in captivity
for a short time a specimen which was brought to him by a native, and it
{157}became one of the most gentle and engaging creatures possible; but
when the calling of its free mates reached its prison house, it used most
pathetically to place its ear close to the bars of its cage and listen with
such intense and eager wistfulness that it was impossible to retain it in
durance any longer. It was accordingly set free on the margin of its old
forest home. Strange to say, its former companions, perceiving perhaps the
odour of captivity about it, seemed to distrust its respectability, and
refused to allow it to mingle with them. Amid the free woods we may hope
that this taint was soon lost and that it recovered all its pristine
happiness.
In general habits it in no way differs from the other species of
_Hylobates_ already described.
In regard to the Bornean specimens of this species, Dr. Anderson makes the
following observations: "This species varies from grey to dark
yellowish-brown, but the grey tint in certain lights appears pure ashy, and
in others of a brownish tint. In some the chest and abdomen are frequently
yellow, and this seems to be the character of individuals met with on the
west coast of Borneo, while those inhabiting the meridional parts of the
island have the hands and fore part of the body of a black-brown or
reddish-brown. In both of these varieties there is a yellowish-white
superciliary streak. The last of them leads into the varieties of
_Hylobates_ from the neighbouring islands of Sulu, to the north-east of
Borneo, in which the upper parts of the body are either grey or brownish,
the lower part of the back and the loins being a little more clear than the
rest." The outer surface of the limbs, the back part of the head, the
supercilium, and the sides of the face are more or less pure ashy-grey.
"Specimens of this Gibbon obtained by me," writes Mr. Charles Hose, who is
well known for his Bornean researches, {158}"at Claudetown, and now in the
British Museum, show that the colouring in different parts of the body must
be considered of little importance, as I obtained eleven specimens, five of
which were in the same troop and the other six from the same locality,
varying in colour as much as it is possible for them to do; some had
yellowish backs and black chests, others black backs with yellowish chests,
and some were nearly black all over; whilst others were almost a complete
silver-grey. I, therefore, come to the conclusion that _H. muelleri_ and
_H. leuciscus_ cannot be separated. The peculiar bubbling noise they make
is similar. I think it very unlikely that two distinct species should be so
constantly found together as they are in Sarawak.
"The natives call the silver-grey variety 'Emplian' or 'Wa-Wa,' and the
dark one, 'Emplian arang' (coal), because of its colour."