THE STORY OF THE LEMUR. 
477 
The best known African lemurs are called galagos. With the exception 
of a kind from the West Coast, the great, or thick-tailed galago, of Mozam¬ 
bique and the Lower Zambesi Valley, is the largest of all the species. This 
animal is about the size of a cat of average dimensions; and, indeed, the 
peculiar manner in which it carries its thick bushy tail high above its back 
is highly suggestive of a pampered Persian cat. This bushy tail is about one- 
fourth longer than, the head and body. The ears are unusually long. 
It is confined to the maritime region, so far as I know never penetrating 
beyond the band of wood generally known as the mangrove forest. By the 
Portuguese it is named “rat of the cocoanut palm,” that being its favorite 
haunt by day, nestling among the fronds; but if it be disturbed, performing 
feats of agility, and darting from one palm to another. It will spring with 
great rapidity, adhering to any object as if it were a lump of wet clay. It 
has one failing, otherwise its capture would be no easy task. Should a 
pot of palm-wine be left on the tree, the creature drinks to excess, comes 
down, and rushes about intoxicated. In captivity they are mild; during the 
day remaining either rolled up in a ball, or perched half asleep, with ears 
stowed away like a beetle’s wing under its hard and ornamented case. I 
had half a dozen squirrels with one in the same cage; these were good 
friends, the latter creeping under the galago’s soft fur and falling asleep. On 
introducing a few specimens of (elephant) shrew, the galago seized one and 
bit off its tail, which however, it did not eat. The food it took was biscuit, 
rice, orange, banana, guava, and a little cooked meat. Stupid during the 
day, it became active at night, or just after darkness set in. The rapidity 
and length of its leaps, which were absolutely noiseless, must give great facili¬ 
ties to its capturing live prey. I never knew it give a loud call, but it would 
often make a low, chattering noise. It had been observed at the Luabo 
mouth of the Zambesi, at Quillimane, and at Mozambique. When I had my 
live specimen at Zanzibar, the natives did not seem to recognize it; never¬ 
theless, it may be abundant on the mainland. 
In the warmer parts of Asia is found the slow lemur or loris. The name 
loris, by which all the slow lemurs are commonly known, is derived from 
the Dutch word Loeris, meaning a clown, and appears to have been applied 
to these animals by the Dutch colonists of the East Indian Islands. To the 
natives of India the slow loris is known either by the name Sharmindi billi, 
“bashful cat,” or Lajjar banar, “bashful monkey.” It is an animal about the 
size of a cat; different individuals or races varying considerably in size, so 
that while some specimens do not measure more than 13 inches in total 
