STRENGTH OF THE MANIS 183 



fully be called defence. Without some very special provision 

 of Nature, a slow-moving, toothless and hornless terrestrial 

 animal would fare badly in jungles inhabited by leopards, 

 tigers, wolves, jackals and wild swine. 



When I first endeavored to become acquainted with my 

 Manis, he immediately tucked his head down between his 

 four legs, brought his tail under his body and up over his head 

 and held it there closely, thus forming of himself a flattened 

 ball completely covered with scale armor. When I undertook 

 to uncoil him, I could not manage it alone, and called a serv- 

 ant to help me; but the tail clung to the body as tightly as 

 if it had been riveted there. Then I called another man, and 

 while I held the body, the other two pulled on the tail with 

 all their strength, to uncoil it. But in vain. We wrestled 

 with that small animal until we were fairly exhausted, and 

 so great was the power of the tail that we gave up beaten. 



From the very first, I had no end of trouble with my scaly 

 pet. I could not tie him, for on no part of his body or limbs 

 would a rope hold ten minutes without hurting him. During 

 the day he was reasonably quiet, but at night he was very 

 restless, and anxious to go out ant-hunting. For the first 

 night I shut him up in the main room of the Rest House; 

 and in the morning I found him fully ready to break through 

 a hole he had dug with his big front claws in the ten-inch 

 wall of solid masonry. Well may naturalists assign the 

 Pangolins to the independent Order of Diggers! 



The next night I placed the Pangolin in a large tin box, 

 well covered with boards. At three o'clock in the morning 

 the village dogs raised such a row at the edge of the jungle 



