180 THE RIMAU-DAHAN. 



by the natives to be in the habit of sleeping stretch- 

 ed across the fork of a large bough *. While in a 

 state of confinement, adds Sir Stamford Raffles, they 

 were remarkable for good temper and playfulness : 

 " No domestic kitten could be more so ; they were 

 always courting intercourse with persons passing by, 

 and in the expression of their countenance, which 

 was always open and smiling, shewed the greatest 

 delight when noticed, throwing themselves on their 

 backs, and delighting in being tickled and rubbed. 

 On board ship there was a small Musi dog, who used 

 to play round the cage with the animal, and it was 

 amusing to observe the playfulness and tenderness 

 with which the latter came in contact with his infe- 

 rior-sized companion. When fed with a fowl that 

 had died, he seized the prey, and after sucking the 

 blood and tearing it a little, he amused himself for 

 hours in throwing it about and jumping after it, in 

 the manner that a cat plays with a mouse before it 

 is quite dead. 



" He never seemed to look on man or children as 

 prey, but as companions, and the natives assert, that 

 when wild they live principally on poultry, birds, 

 and the smaller kinds of deer. They are not found 

 in numbers, and may be considered rather a rare 

 animal, even in the southern part of Sumatra. Both 

 specimens were procured from the interior of Ben- 

 coolen, on the banks of the Bencoolen River. They 



Sir S. T. Raffles, Linn. Trans, vol. xiii. p. 254. 



