THE PANGOLIN AND PHATAGIN. 237 



thus obliges it to put forth its nose, which he instantly seizes, 

 and soon after the whole body ; but the scales of the Pangolin 

 effectually support it under any such weight, while nothing 

 that the strongest animals are capable of doing can compel it 

 to surrender. Man alone seems furnished with arms to con- 

 quer its obstinacy. The negroes of Africa, when they find it, 

 beat it to death with clubs, and consider its flesh as a very 

 great delicacy. 



But, although this animal be so formidable in its appear- 

 ance, there cannot be a more harmless, inoffensive creature 

 when unmolested. It is even unqualified by nature to injure 

 larger animals, if it had the disposition, for it has no teeth. 

 It should seem that the bony matter, which goes in other 

 animals to supply the teeth, is exhausted in this in supplying 

 the scales that go to the covering of its body. However this 

 be, its life seems correspondent to its peculiar conformation. 

 Incapable of being carnivorous, since it has no teeth, nor of 

 subsisting on vegetables which require much chewing, it lives 

 entirely upon insects, for which nature has fitted it in a very 

 extraordinary manner. As it has a long nose, so it may 

 naturally be supposed to have a long tongue ; but, to increase 

 its length still more, it is doubled in the mouth, so that when 

 extended, it is shot out to above a quarter of a yard beyond 

 the tip of the nose. This tongue is round, extremely red, 

 and covered with an unctuous and slimy liquor, which gives 

 it a shining hue. When the Pangolin, therefore, approaches 

 an ant-hill, for these are the insects on which it chiefly feeds, 

 it lies down near it, concealing as much as possible the place 

 of its retreat, and stretching out its long tongue among the 

 ants, keeps it for some time quite immoveable. These little 

 animals, allured by its appearance, and the unctuous sub- 

 stance with which it is smeared, instantly gather upon it in 

 great numbers; and when the Pangolin supposes a sufficiency, 

 it quickly withdraws the tongue and swallows them at once. 

 This peculiar manner of hunting for its prey is repeated, 

 either till it be satisfied, or till the ants, grown more cautious, 

 will be allured to their destruction no longer. It is against 



