ANIMALS. -US 



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 a 

 to show that I did not in the least exaggerate in my description. 



OF THE MAKI. 



The last of the monkey kind are the makies ; which have no 

 other pretensions to be placed in this class, except that of hav- 

 ing 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 whatever 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 mon- 

 key 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 diflers from them. There are many different kinds of 

 these animals ; all varying from each other in colour or size, but 

 agreeing in the human-like figure of their hands and feet, and in 

 their long nose, v/hich somewhat resembles that of a dog. As 

 most of these are bred in the depths of the forest, we know little 

 more concerning them than their figure. Their way of living, 

 their power of pursuit and escape, can only be supposed, from 

 the analogy of their conformation, somewhat to resemble those 

 of the monkey. 



The first of this kind is the Mococo ; a beautiful animal, about 

 the size of a common cat, but the body and limbs slenderer, and 

 cf a longer make. It has a very long tail, at least double the 

 length of its body ; it is covered with fur, and marked alternately 

 with broad rings of black and white. But what it is chiefly re- 

 markable for, besides the form of its hands and feet, is the large- 

 ness of its eyes, which are surrounded with a broad black space ; 

 and the length of the hinder legs, which by far exceed those be- 

 fore. When it sleeps, it bring? its nose to its belly, and its tail 



