There Is Probably
Also A Greater Variety Of Fruit In The Mias District, The Small
Mountains Which Rise Like Islands Out Of It Serving As Gardens Or
Plantations Of A Sort, Where The Trees Of The Uplands Are To Be
Found In The Very Midst Of The Swampy Plains.
It is a singular and very interesting sight to watch a Mias
making his way leisurely through the forest.
He walks
deliberately along some of the larger branches in the semi-erect
attitude which the great length of his arms and the shortness of
his legs cause him naturally to assume; and the disproportion
between these limbs is increased by his walking on his knuckles,
not on the palm of the hand, as we should do. He seems always to
choose those branches which intermingle with an adjoining tree,
on approaching which he stretches out his long arms, and seizing
the opposing boughs, grasps them together with both hands, seems
to try their strength, and then deliberately swings himself
across to the next branch, on which he walks along as before. He
never jumps or springs, or even appears to hurry himself, and yet
manages to get along almost as quickly as a person can run
through the forest beneath. The long and powerful arms are of the
greatest use to the animal, enabling it to climb easily up the
loftiest trees, to seize fruits and young leaves from slender
boughs which will not bear its weight, and to gather leaves and
branches with which to form its nest.
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