320 ANIMALS OF THE 



tured with so bright a vermilion, that one could 

 scarcely be led to suppose that it was natural. 

 I kept it a year ; and it was still alive when I 

 made this description of it, almost within sight of 

 the coasts of France : all I could then do, was to 

 preserve it in spirits of wine, which might serve 

 to keep it in such a state as to show that I did 

 not in the least exaggerate in my description," 



OF THE MAKI. f 







THE last of the monkey kind are the Makies ; 

 which have no other pretensions to be placed in 

 this class, except that of having hands like the 

 former, and making use of them to climb trees, 

 or to pluck their food. Animals of the hare kind, 

 indeed, are often seen to feed themselves with 

 their fore-paws, but they can hold nothing in one 

 of them singly, and are obliged to take up what- 

 ever they eat in both at once : but it is otherwise 

 with the maki ; as well as the monkey kinds, they 

 seize their food with one hand, pretty much like 

 a man, and grasp it with great ease and firmness. 

 The maki, therefore, from this conformation in 

 .its hands, both before and behind, approaches 

 nearly to the monkey kind ; but in other respects, 

 such as the make of the snout, the form of the 

 ears, and the parts that distinguish the sexes, it 

 entirely differs from them. There are many dif- 

 ferent kinds of these animals ; all varying from 

 each other in colour or size, but agreeing in the 



