116 ANIMALS OF THE 



standing his impatience, he would suffer himself, 

 though with difficulty, to be handled in the day- 

 time ; but in the night he was extremely restless, 

 always endeavouring to make his escape ; and 

 though he did not attempt the wire, yet with his 

 sharp teeth he would soon have made his way 

 through a wooden cage, as two others which they 

 attempted to bring along with him actually did. 

 These animals are very swift of foot. They build 

 their nests in trees, particularly the palms, of 

 which they eat the fruit ; feeding also on locusts 

 and other insects, and perhaps sometimes prey- 

 ing upon small birds. Its exact place in the 

 zoological system has not yet been ascertained, 

 some naturalists considering it as a species of 

 dog.] 



CHAPTER III. 



ANIMALS OF THE HARE KIND. 



HAVING described in the last chapter a tribe of 

 minute, fierce, rapacious animals, I come now to 

 a race of minute animals, of a more harmless and 

 gentle kind, that, without being enemies to any, 

 are preyed upon by all. As nature has fitted the 

 former for hostility, so it has entirely formed the 

 latter for evasion; and as the one kind subsist 

 by their courage and activity, so the other find 

 safety from their swiftness and their fears. The 



