20 6 
OPOSSUM. 
called a fecond birth : after which, they run into 
this pouch as into an afylum, in time of danger; and ' 
the parent carries them about with her. During the 
time of this fecond geftation, the female fhcws an 
exceffive attachment to her young, and will buffer 
any torture rather than permit this receptacle to be 
opened, for fhe has power of opening on clofmg it 
by the affiftance of fome very ftrong mufcles. 
The flefh of the old animals is very good, like' 
that of a fucking pig: the hair is dyed by the In¬ 
dian womeh and wove into garters and girdles; i 
the i kin is very foetid. 
This genus is not confined to America , as M. de 
Buffon fuppofes *, who combats the opinion of other 
naturalifts on this fubjedl with much warmth: but 
the authority of Pifo , Valentyn , and of he Brun* J 
who have feen it both in Java and in the Mol I 
luce a ijles , and of numbers of colledors in Holland , 
who receive it frequently from thofe places, are 
fufficient to fatisfy me, that a fpecies of the genus, 
perhaps only a variety of the kind juft deferibed, 
inhabits the Indian iftes, as well as the continent of 
America . 
* En Indiis orientalibus, idque folum, quantum haftenus conftat , in 
Amboina, fimilis Bejlia (Carigueya) frequsns ad felis ?}iagnitudinem 
acadens, mattata ab incolis comeditur , fi rite preparetur, nam alias jietet. 
nomen illi Cous cous inditum . Pif<? Brafil, 323. he Erun , in his voyage 
to the Eaji Indies , deferibes it. under the name ©f Blander, I. 347. 
tab. 213, 
Mils 
