2-798-594 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The "Wou-wou", or silvery gibbons, 1845. 'The "Wou-Wou" or "Moloch,"...is a native of Malacca. It derives its specific name from its peculiar cry, which is a gutteral scream resembling, according to the natives, the sound "wou-wou"; is very loud, and may be often heard resounding at vast distances through the mighty forests...Their diet is composed of lettuces, potatoes, bread, oranges, apples, &c.; they will drink milk, tea, or chocolate, but no beer or fermented liquors, being in this respect of far more temperate habits than the Chimpanzees or Orang-Outangs...They are seen to the greatest advantage when amusing themselves among the ropes with which their apartment is furnished - their long arms and extreme tenacity of grasp enabling them to spring from one cord to the other with surprising confidence, and with almost bird-like velocity'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.