TOOTHLESS QUADRUPEDS. 123 



•vas lying there, held it for him to hook on, and then conveyed 

 him to a high and stately mora. He ascended with wonderful 

 rapidity, and in about a minute he was almost at the top of the 

 tree. He now went off in a side direction, and caught hold of 

 the branch of a neighboring tree ; he then proceeded towards the 

 heart of the forest ; I stood looking on, lojt in amazement at hia 

 singular mode of progress." 



The Pangolin, or Short-tailed Manis, is larger than the 

 Phatagin, or long-tailed kind; his fore feet are covered with 

 scales, but the Phatagin's feet and part of his fore legs have none, 

 being only clothed with hair. They are both found in the East 

 Indies and in Africa, where, the negroes eat their flesh, considering 

 it a delicate, wholesome food. The Pangolin has larger scales, 

 thicker, more convex, and not so close as those of the Phatagin, 

 which are armed with three sharp points ; while the scales of the 

 Pangolin are without points, and uniformly sharp. The Phatagin 

 is hairy upon the belly ; and the Pangolin has no hair on that part 

 of his body, but between those scales which cover his back some 

 thick and long hair issues like the bristles of a hog, which are not 

 found on the back of the Phatagin. The Pangolin is from six to 

 eight feet in length, including his tail ; the tail is very near as 

 long as the body, though it appears shorter when young ; the scales 

 are not then so large nor so thick, and of a pale color, which is 

 deeper when the animal is adult; they acquire such a hardness, 

 that they resist a musket ball. Like the ant-eaters, both these 

 animals live chiefly upon ants; their body and their tail are 

 also very long, and the claws of their feet very near of the 

 same length and the same form, but equal in number. The Pan- 

 golin is also toothless, and has a long cylindrical tongue, which it 

 uses in the same manner as that animal to procure the insects on 

 which it subsists. When it approaches an ant-hill, it lies down 

 near it, concealing, as much as possible, the place of its retreat, 

 and stretching out its long tongue among the ants, keeping it for 

 some time immDvable. These little creatures, allured by its shining 

 appearance, and the unctuous substance with which it is smeared, 

 instantly gather upon it in great numbers; and when the Pangolin 



