IV. 



PRANKS OF A PET. 



Perhaps the greatest fun our little captive 

 had was with a newspaper. The thing that first 

 interested him was being told to let it alone 

 when he longed to tear it up. This desire of his 

 kept us always on the watch for our papers, till 

 at last I resolved to give him his wish. I took 

 an old paper, and put it on the floor for him. 



First he came with a big leap into the middle 

 of it, when the rustle instantly scared him off, 

 in a second bound as tremendous as the first. 

 He soon came back, however, and began again. 

 He turned somersets on it, rolled over it, then 

 took hold of one corner and rolled himself up in 

 it. But all the time every fresh rustle of the 

 paper put him in a panic, and he leaped spas- 

 modically away. It was a wild frolic impossible 

 to describe, with attitudes so comical, move- 

 ments so unexpected, and terror and joy so 

 closely united, that it was the funniest exhibi- 

 tion one can imagine. 



The next evening I arranged a newspaper 

 tentwise on the floor. The lemur looked at it 

 sharply, examined the tempting passage-way 



