ly speaking, their progress is made not so
much by _leaping_ as by swinging from branch to branch, using
their powerful arms alternately; and when baffled by distance,
flinging themselves obliquely so as to catch the lower boughs of an
opposite tree, the momentum acquired by their descent being sufficient
to cause a rebound of the branch, that carries them upwards again,
till they can grasp a higher and more distant one, and thus continue
their headlong flight. In these perilous achievements, wonder is
excited less by the surpassing agility of these little creatures,
frequently encumbered as they are by their young, which cling to them
in their career, than by the quickness of their eye and the unerring
accuracy with which they seem almost to calculate the angle at which a
descent will enable them to cover a given distance, and the recoil to
attain a higher altitude.

2. The low country Wanderoo is replaced in the hills by the larger
species, _P. ursinus_, which inhabits the mountain zone. The natives,
who designate the latter the _Maha_ or Great Wanderoo, to distinguish it
from the _Kaloo_, or black one, with which they are familiar, describe
it as much wilder, and more powerful than its congener of the lowland
forests. It is rarely seen by Europeans, this portion of the country
having till very recently been but partially opened; and even now it is
difficult to observe its habits, as it seldom approaches the few roads
which wind through these deep solitudes. At early morning, ere the day
begins to dawn, its loud and peculiar howl, which consists of a quick
repetition of the sounds _how how!_ maybe frequently heard in the
mountain jungles, and forms one of the characteristic noises of these
lofty situations. It was first captured by Dr. Kelaart in the woods near
Nuera-ellia, and from its peculiar appearance it has been named _P.
ursinus_ by Mr. Blyth.[1]

[Footnote 1: Mr. Blyth quotes as authority for this trivial name a
passage from MAJOR FORBES' _Eleven Years in Ceylon;_ and I can
vouch for the graphic accuracy of the remark.--"A species of very
large monkey, that passed some distance before me, when resting on all
fours, looked so like a Ceylon bear, that I nearly took him for one."]

3. The _P. Thersites_, which is chiefly distinguished from the
others by wanting the head tuft, is so rare that it was for some time
doubtful whether the single specimen procured by Dr. Templeton from
the Nuera-kalawa, west of Trinc