Like The
Cuscus Of The Moluccas, The Galeopithecus Feeds Chiefly On
Leaves, And Possesses A Very Voluminous Stomach And Long
Convoluted Intestines.
The brain is very small, and the animal
possesses such remarkable tenacity of life, that it is
exceedingly difficult to kill it by any ordinary means.
The tail
is prehensile; and is probably made use of as an additional
support while feeding. It is said to have only a single young one
at a time, and my own observation confirms this statement, for I
once shot a female with a very small blind and naked little
creature clinging closely to its breast, which was quite bare and
much wrinkled, reminding me of the young of Marsupials, to which
it seemed to form a transition. On the back, and extending over
the limbs and membrane, the fur of these animals is short, but
exquisitely soft, resembling in its texture that of the
Chinchilla.
I returned to Palembang by water, and while staying a day at a
village while a boat was being made watertight, I had the good
fortune to obtain a male, female, and young bird of one of the
large hornbills. I had sent my hunters to shoot, and while I was
at breakfast they returned, bringing me a fine large male of the
Buceros bicornis, which one of them assured me he had shot while
feeding the female, which was shut up in a hole in a tree. I had
often read of this curious habit, and immediately returned to the
place, accompanied by several of the natives.
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