524 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



where considerable numbers were caught by the 

 company of a ship which had been wrecked there 

 on her voyage from Bengal to Port Jackson. 



" I received this animal alive, by a vessel which 

 I had sent to the relief of the sufferers: it was ex- 

 ceedingly weak when it arrived, as it had, during 

 its confinement on board, refused every kind of 

 sustenance, except a small quantity of boiled rice, 

 which was forced down its throat. I had it fre- 

 quently taken out of a box in which it was kept, 

 that it might receive the benefit of the warmth of 

 the sun, "which, however, it did not seem to enjoy; 

 but whenever it could shelter itself under a shrub, 

 there it would continue and sleep. It refused every 

 kind of food on shore as it had done on board, but 

 we could see it sometimes nibble a little of the 

 roots of rushes or grass : it grew weaker every day, 

 was exceedingly harmless, and would allow any 

 person to carry it about. After having lived, with 

 scarcely any kind of food, for six weeks, it died; 

 and its intestines and brain having been taken out, 

 I preserved the body in spirits, for the inspection 

 of the learned members of the Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



" It is about the size of a Badger, a species of 

 which we supposed it to be, from its dexterity of 

 burrowing in the earth, by means of its fore paws ; 

 but on watching its general motions, it appeared to 

 have much of the habits and manners of the Bear. 



" Its head is large; the forehead, above the eyes, 

 is particularly broad, from which it tapers to the 

 nose,* which is a hard gristly substance, and seems 

 well adapted for removing the earth where it bur- 



* Its nose and upper lip resemble those of the Porcupine. 



