on account of this property, as of that of not being killed without great difficulty, to have an important office affigned it in the general fyftem of the ceconomy of nature. It was fuppofed, (and not without foundation) by the people with whom I reiided, that this creature might eafily be made tame, and that it was not in the leaft of a malignant or venomous nature. I have this moment received the foetus of a very lingular quadruped from the Cape, which has been kept in fpirits, I can therefore do no more than give a ffiort defcription of it in this place, which may ferve as a foundation for farther refearches in future. It feems to be of a dark grey colour, and feven inches and a half long, meafuring from the nofe to the anus ; in its body, tail, and feet, fomewhat refembling a young whelp, but with a quite different head. The nofe is round and fmall, two-thirds of an inch in length, and projecting fbrait forwards, fo as to form a right angle with the forehead, .which is upright, and rounded almoft like that of a man; and thus in thefe particulars, likewife very different from the long-fnouted genus o f viverra, or weafel. The mouth, moreover, projects in fuch a manner, that the upper lip forms an acute angle with the nofe. Notwithftanding this, the under-lip and jaw project beyond the upper. The tongue is broad, and is round at the tip. Captain A d o l p h u s B u r t z , who has enriched the cabinet of Natural Hiftory belonging to the Royal Academy of Sciences with divers rarities from the Eaft-Indies, has made me a prefent likewife of this animal, which he had bought of <of a. countryman at the Cape. This man told him, that it was to be found in the country round about Sctldeinha-bdy, and gave him the name of it, which Captain B u r T z took down in writing, but loft the paper; fo that this animal feemis to be one of the regular and ordinary produdtions of nature, and no monitor. In the evening we came to 'Nanct-Tiviet'. At this tithe there lived here a widow, whofe hufband had federal years before met with the dreadful cataftrophe of being beheaded by his own flaves. His ion, then about 1 3 or 14 years o f age, was obliged to be eve-witnefs to his father’s fate, and was even threatened with being made to partake of it, hut luckily found an opportunity of giving them the flip ; and after eluding their moft vigilant fearcb, hid hitnfelf up clofe from the forenoon till it was dark at night; when at laft he ventured forth, with a view to feek a fafer afylum at a neighbouring farm, and to accnfe his father’s murderers. T h e f e v illa in s h a d r e fo lv e d l ik e w i f e to m u r d e r th e m o th e r , w h o w a s e x p e d ted th a t d a y h om e f r om th e C a p e b u t fo r tu n a t e ly f o r h e r , t h o u g h v e r y m u c h to h e r d if fa t is fa d f io n , ih e w a S 'd e la y e d b y fom e a c c id e n t o n th e ro a d t ill th e n e x t d a y . B y m e a n s o f h e r fo n , W h o h a d m a d e h is e fc a p e , ih e received advice of what had happened. As the whole premifes on the farm confifted merely of two houfes, fituated on a plain quite open 011 all fides, excepting that it was covered with a few ftraggling bufhes, which grew along the little river or brook that ran clofe by the fpot, the lad’s contrivance to hide hitnfelf, though in fadt ex** tremely painful as well as lingular, was the only one that could at this time poffibly fave him. It confifted in this, V o l . II, X x viz.
27f 72-2
To see the actual publication please follow the link above