56 
SLOW LEMUR* 
on bis prey glowed with uncommon fire ; and* 
having drawn himself back to spring on it with 
greater force* he seized the prey with both his 
fore paws* but held it in one of them while he 
devoured it. For other purposes* and sometimes 
even for that of holding his food* he used all his 
paws indifferently as hands* and frequently grasped 
with one of them the higher part of his ample 
cage* while his three others were severally en- 
gaged at the bottom of it ; but the posture of 
which he seemed fondest was to cling with all 
four of them to the upper wires* his body being 
inverted.’ In the evening he usually stood erect 
for many minutes* playing on the wires with his 
fingers* and rapidly moving his body from side to 
side* as if he had found the utility of exercise in 
his unnatural state of confinement. 
A little before day-break* when my early hours 
gave me frequent opportunities of observing him* 
he seemed to solicit my attention ; and if I pre- 
sented my finger to him he licked or nibbled it with 
great gentleness* but eagerly took fruit when I 
offered it ; though he seldom ate much at his 
morning repast : when the day brought back his 
night * his eyes lost their lustre and strength* and 
he composed himself for a slumber of ten or eleven 
hours. 
My little friend was* on the whole* very en- 
gaging ; and when he was found lifeless in the 
same posture in which he would naturally have 
slept* I consoled myself with believing that he 
died without much pain* and lived with as much 
pleasure as he could have enjoyed in a state of 
captivity/’ 
In the year 1755* M. D’Obsonyille purchased 
• one of these animals of an Indian. He was very 
slow in bis motions* so that even when he seemed 
desirous of moving fast* he scarcely went above 
