The morning call., 1890-12-07

the sounds are a call to its mate; and have
several times watched the bird alight on
some lofty tree, strike several resounding
blows against the trunk with the front Of
tIe casque mot the biiD, and burst into a
shout OF unearthly laughter, far louder and
more human that that OF the Laughing jack
ass. IN minute or so the sound wculd be
Iepeated from distance. and then the mate
would come slowly sailing across and settle
on Tue same tree. 1t is a curious proof of
9eIective power OF observation that old resi-
Vents nave told me the sounds were caused
by monkey.
VI the latter, the commonest species is
tne aforementioned black macaque, but an
otner, almost equally plentiful, is the pig
1 la macaque, the ''brok" of the Malays.
1nls monkey is about the size of bull ter
iiel. ana at distance is not unlike one,
from IT'S habilual walk being on all-fours
and its general
DoG-IIKE CARRIAGE.
Inns Is, believe, the most artful and in
telilgent OF all monkeys. and is the one
trained ny the Malays to gather cccoanuts
and durians. But, like all their race, they
are spitefui. "unehancy' brutes, and never
SAFE TO handle. You can never trust mon
Key, however tame he appears. as the late
frank auckland found to his cost on more
than one occasion. have several times
seen a monkey. which, after being some
time IN captivity, had made an excursion
INTO the Jungle, set upon by his wild rela-
tlves and gncminiously hunted back to the
apodes Oh men. don't know how to ac-
count Tor this Did they think that his NOR
ais or manners had deteriorated in the soci-
ety OF the anthropolds who couldn't climb
tires, and didn't know how to Screech?
linen There are the gibbons, taose mar
reIous lrapeZe and horZontal-bar per-
tofiners' with their almost bird-like flights
rom lTee-top 10 tree-top, and their chorus
OF melancholy h0otings ut morning and
evening. only saw one specimen Of the
slanang in captivity at the house OF Malay
ehleI at Slrdans. 1t was about 3 feet high,
put the stretch of its arms was over feet.
A sad-looklng depressed creature it seemed,
as u moved awkYardly about the floor,
tripping Itself with its own arms; but once
among the rafters of the roof, it moved
Win me agility of spider OF its gigantic
relative, the orang-utan. am able to give
few particulars. But 1 may at least Oh
serve that 1t is rather ludicrous to any one
who has smattsring of the Malay tongue
10 see nm SO frequently styled orang-uiang.
when signifies literally. "a man in debt"
"utan" is forest" or Jungle" But /
always found the name incomprehensible
to the Deli Malays, whose name for the ami
NAL is ''mowas." The Samaritan species
appears 10 be totally different in its habits
from that of Borneo, which approaches
human dwellings, and even plumbers gar
dens. In Dell, ut all events, it inhabits
only the denseSt rattan SwampS, of such
nature that any
ATTEMPT AT OBSERVATION
VI its habits would be impossible; and it
makes OIL instantly at the approach of man
IL Is certain, however, that it attains an
enormous size, fully equaling the much
debated African gorilla. Those specimens
which have reached Europe alive are mere
plgmles. have seen skins in the possession
OF natives (BatakS) whose original owners
must have been something terrible to be-
hold; one, indeed, could not have been less
than six feet high and two across the shout
ders, though the arms and legs had not
been preserved. The hair on this skin was
eighteen inches long.
L also saw at q Batak house a skull of
mowaS, evidently very old specimen, whose
teeth and jaws were no whit inferior in
strength to that OF tiger. tried TO buy it,
but the owner would not part with ii, and
told long story as to how it came into his
possession. From his want of front teeth
and his defective Malay, lie was almost un-
ineligible; but made out that it had
been slain either by his father or grand
1atner, alter desperate encounter; and, in
deed, the deep cuts In the bone must have
been done by strong arm and a heavy
weapon.
One or two small specimens / saw in cap
tlvity, but they seemed to have less intelli-
gence than any animal l ever saw, and re-
minded me in all their actions OF Chinese
coolies alter an overdose OF opium. Ii is
very possible that their captors may have
hocussed them with that or something
similar, 10 keep them FROM escaping. There
Is a Dcilet among certain of the Samaritan
natives OF the existence of a creature half
ape, half demon, which feeds ON human
flesh, and decoys its victims into the Jungle
by Initiating the laughter of a woman. What
foundation there is for this l don't know
probably none. except the cannibal prac-
tees oil the DatakS; but it is not at all the
KIND OF thing to remember in the depths Of
those gloomy, niahImarish, swampy jungles,
with only two or three chicken hearted
Javanese In company. At such times the
sudden appearance of a fuil-sized mowas
wnnld be highly calculated to "riz the har''
for moment, II not longer.
THE TIGER is PLENTIFUL ENOUGH,
But Is not held in much dread. They are
much more frequent i'll the older settled dis
trIcts than in virgin jungle. One reason for
tins is that In Deli proper, where tobacco
planting has been carried on for MANY
years. the fields which have been planted
and, as is the practice, allowed to lie falow
Tor six or seven years, have become covered
with dense growth of lallang or sword
grass, thus atfording just The cover that the
tiger likes. But though their tracks may be
found thickly on tile roads Immediately
surrounding the large town of Medap, they
seldom attack human beings, and are not
very destructive even to cattle. l do not re-
member half dozen cases of man-eating in
Two years. But they have very strong
-penchant for dog flesh, so much so that
dog lett outside of the house at night will
most certainly be carried off In one in
stance two Germans were sitting in the We
randa OF house in broad daylight about
O'Clock in the afternoon, with one OF the
great useless mOngrelS, so much affected by
Germans, lying on the top of the wooden
steps. The house faced IA road ON which
parties of coolies were coming and going
every five minutes. Suddenly, tiger, which
had been concealed IN roadside ditch,
uaSutu I'D the stems and UIsa npa1ta1 Iutn tho
lalang dog in mouth, before the astonished
men could rise from their seats. | remem-
Der fine, young, haif-grown tiger trapped
few years ago in Langkat whose stomach
contained large number of frogs-an odd
diet for tiger.-Chambers' Journal.