286 



OBTAIN TWO OPOSSUMS. 



peared to be quiet g-entle animals^ until much irri- 

 tated^ when they bite hard. We fed them at first 

 on ripe cocoa-nuts^ of which they were very fond ^ 

 but hitterly they became accustomed to pea-soup. 

 They spent most of the day in sleep in a corner of 

 the hen-coop where they were kept^ each on its 

 haunches with the tail coiled up in front^ the body 

 arched^ and the head covered by the fore paws and 

 doubled down between the thighs ^ at nighty how- 

 ever^ they were more active and restless^ their larg-e 

 reddish yellow eyes being- then obscured by the 

 dilated pupil^ which during* the day appears as a 

 narrow vertical line. One was frequently taken on 

 deck towards evening- and allowed to climb about 

 the rig'g-ing-^ moving- very slowly^ and endeavouring- 

 to g*et up as hig-h as possible. 



The natives resemble those seen at Brumer islands 

 (from which we were distant about thirty-six miles) 

 so closely that I saw no points reg'arding* them 

 deserving- of separate notice^ and their lang-uag-e is 

 the same^ judg'ing- from a small vocabulary of about 

 seventy words. The onh^ manufactured article new 



