THE OPOSSUM. 145 



eyes, his body appears always very dirty, because his 

 hair is neither smooth nor curled, but tarnished, as if cov- 

 ered with dirt. The bad smell of this animal resides in 

 the skin, for his flesh is eatable. The savages hunt this 

 animal, and feed on his flesh heartily. It is so tenacious 

 of life, that, in North Carolina, it has given rise to an adage, 

 that, " if a cat has nine lives, an Opossum has nineteen." 



The latest and fullest account of the manners and habits 

 of the Opossum tribe, is given by Dr. Goodman, an Ame- 

 rican naturalist. " The Opossum," says he, " is very re- 

 markable from other peculiarities, beside those which 

 relate to the continuation of its kind. In the first place, 

 it has a very large number of teeth (no less than fifty), and 

 its hind feet are actually rendered hands, by short, fleshy, 

 and opposable thumbs, which, together with the rjromi- 

 nences in the palms of those posterior hands, enable the 

 animal to take firm hold of objects which no one would 

 think could be thus grasped. An Opossum can cling by 

 these feet hands to a smooth silk handkerchief, or a silk 

 dress, with great security, and climb up by, the same. In 

 like manner he can ascend by a skein of silk, or even a 

 few threads. The slightest projection or doubling of any 

 material, affords him a certain mean of climbing to any 

 desired height. Another curious and amusing peculiarity, 

 is his prehensile tail : by simply curving this at the ex- 

 tremity, the Opossum sustains his weight, and depends 

 from a limb of a tree, or other projecting body, and hang- 

 ing in full security, gathers fruit, or seizes any prey within 

 his reach : to regain his position on the limb, it is only ne- 

 cessary to make a little stronger effort with the tail, and 

 throw his body upward at the same time. 



" In speaking of the more obvious peculiarities of the 

 Opossum, we may advert to the thinness and membranous 

 character of the external ears, which may remind us in 

 some degree of what has been heretofore said relative to 

 the perfection of the sense of touch possessed by the bat, 



