THE CUSCUS. 161 



ferred its -weight. Finally the opossum reaches the ground, where 

 its awkward movements render it an easy capture. It is then tied 

 to a stick and caiTied home alive on the shoulder of a native. 



The discus is a common article of food with these islanders ; 

 and in some islands, as in Simbo or Eddystone, it is kept as a pet 

 by the natives. Out of seven opossums that were kept as pets on 

 board the " Lark," all died within a few weeks, being apparently 

 unable to withstand captivity. Most of them, however, were 

 young. The cause of the death of one of them was rathei" singular. 

 Immediately after its death the skin of the animal was literally 

 covered with small ticks about the size of a pin's head and distended 

 with blood, whilst the body presented the blanched appearance of 

 an animal bled to death. It. had been ailing for a day or two before 

 and was incessantly drinking all liquids it could get, even its own 

 urine : but the ticks had not been sufficiently numerous to be 

 observed ; and in fact they appeared to have covered the animal in 

 the course of a single night. As I was informed by the natives of 

 Simbo, these animals subsist on the shoots and voung leaves of the 

 trees : on board the " Lark " they cared for little else than bananas. 

 They make a curious clicking noise when eating, and often hold 

 the substance in their fore-paws. When taken out in the day-time 

 from their boxes they were half asleep, and at once tried to get out 

 of the bright light into the shade. In the night-time they were 

 very restless in their prisons, making continual efforts to escape be- 

 tween the bars, and as soon as they were let out they moved about 

 with much activity. The older animals are sometimes rather fierce. 

 One of them which belonged to the men used to spend a consider- 

 able portion of its time up aloft ; and, when in want of food, it 

 would descend the ricjoino- and o-o down to the lower deck. Their 

 naked tails have a cold clammy feeling ; and with them they were 

 in the habit of swinging themselves from any object. When the 

 Guscus was about to be taken up- by its master, it moored itself to 

 the nearest object by means of its tail. It always descended a rope 

 head first, but kept its tail twined round the rope during its descent 

 so as to be able to withdraw itself at once if necessary, the tail 

 supporting the greater portion of its weight. 



Although the natives, who accompanied me in my various ex- 

 cursions, usually displayed their skill in following a straight course 

 through a pathless wood where thej' could only see a few yards on 

 either side of them, yet on more than one occasion they were, to use 



