XQffg-rTAltM MAN'IS. 101 
its appearance, there cannot be a more harmless, 
inoffensive creature when unmolested. It is even 
unqualified by nature to injure larger animals, if 
it had the disposition, for it has no teethe It 
should seem that the bony matter, which goes in 
other animals to supply the teeth, is exhausted in 
this in supplying the scales that go to the covering 
of its body. However this be, its life seems cor- 
respondent to its peculiar conformation. Incapa- 
ble of being carnivorous, since it has no teeth, or 
of subsisting on vegetables, which require much 
chewing, it lives entirely upon insects, which it 
catches in a similar manner to other ant eaters. 
It is against these noxious insects, therefore, that 
its only force or cunning is exerted ; and were the 
negroes but sufficiently sensible of its utility in 
destroying one of the greatest pests to their coun- 
try, they would not be so eager to kill it. But it 
is the nature of savage men to pursue the imme- 
diate good, without being solicitous about the 
more distant benefit they remove. They, there- 
fore, hunt this animal with the utmost avidity for 
its flesh ; and as it is slow and unable to escape 
in an open place, they seldom fail of destroying 
it. However, it chiefly keeps in the most obscure 
parts of the forest, and digs itself a retreat in the 
clefts of rocks, where it brings forth its young, 
so that it is but rarely met with, and continues an 
extraordinary instance of the varying of nature. 
Long-tailed man is, or phatagin 
Has a slender nose ; both its nose and head are 
smooth ; its body, legs, and tail, are guarded by 
long, sharp -pointed, striated scales ; its throat 
and belly are covered with hair ; its legs are short, 
with four claws on each foot, one of which is very 
small ; its tail tapers, but ends blunt. Guinea 
