CABINET. 



Description Harmless disposition. 



j)oints and edges of its scales. It is said, that 

 it will wreathe itself round the trunk of the 

 elephant, in such a manner that even that power- 

 ful animal can scarcely extricate itself from its 

 grasp. This animal is sometimes six, seven, and 

 even eight feet in length. 



Some writers are inclined to believe that the 

 animal called the broad-tailed manis, is merely a 

 variation in the species, probably owing to the 

 differences of sex and age. 



One of these animals was caught rolled tip in 

 the cavity of the wall of a merchant's house in 

 Tninquebar; whence it was with great difficulty 

 dra\vn and destroyed. Its scales were of the 

 shape of a muscle, the exterior ones ending in u 

 very sharp point; the tail was in the broadest 

 part haif an ell and a span over. 



The proportional form and breadth of the tail 

 frequently varies irt the different specimens; 

 some of them being remarkably broad and 

 rounded, some less obtuse at the tips, and others 

 irregularly marked, as though battered and worn 

 by age. 



" These animals," Goldsmith observes, "though 

 so formidable in appearance, are the most harm- 

 Mid inoffensive of all creatures. They are 

 even unqualified by nature from the want of 

 teeth, to injure other animals. It should seem 

 that the bony matter which in other creatures go 

 to supply the teeth, is exhausted in this genus, 

 m supplying the scales which cover the body. 



