Part 19
This animal is called by some travellers the _genet of Madagascar_, because it resembles the genet in colour, and some other affinities; but it is in general much smaller, and has not the odoriferous bag, which is an essential character belonging to that animal. As we were not certain as to this fact, not being able to procure one for dissection, we wrote to M. de Poivre, who had sent us the skin of a fossane stuffed, and who favoured us with the following answer:--Lyons, July 19, 1761. "The fossane which I brought from Madagascar is an animal whose manners are much like those of our marten. The inhabitants of the island assured me, that when the male is in heat it emits a very strong smell like musk. When I stuffed the skin which is in the royal gardens I did not discover any bag, nor did I find any odoriferous smell. I reared two similar animals, the one at Cochinchina, and another in the Phillippine Islands; they were both males; I had them very young, and kept them about, two or three months, in which time they had become pretty familiar. I never found any bag in the parts you speak of, but only observed that their excrements had the same smell as those of our marten. They eat flesh and fruits, but preferred the latter, and were exceedingly partial to bananas, which they devoured with voracity. This is a very wild animal, and difficult to tame; though taken when very young, yet it preserved the look and character of ferocity, which appeared to me somewhat extraordinary in an animal who feeds by preference on fruits. The eye of the fossane represents a large black globe, in comparison with the size of its head, which gives it a mischievous aspect."
It gives us great pleasure to have here an opportunity of testifying our thanks to M. de Poivre, who from a real taste for natural history, and a friendship for those who cultivate it, has presented to the cabinet a great number of scarce and curious animals.
The animal called _berbé_, in Guinea seems to us to be the same as the fossane, and consequently that this species exists in Africa as well as in Asia. "The _berbé_ (says Bosman) has a more pointed snout, and a smaller body, than our cat, and is speckled like the civet." We know of no animal with which these characters so well agree as with that of the fossane.
THE VANSIRE.
Those who have spoken of this animal have taken it for a ferret, to which indeed it has a great resemblance; but it differs in characters sufficiently strong to warrant our considering it as a distinct species. The vansire, or, as it is called by some, the Madagascar weasel, of which place it is a native, has twelve grinders in its upper jaw, while the ferret has only eight; and the lower grinders, though ten in number in both animals, are neither alike in shape nor situation. Besides, the vansire differs in the colour of its hair from all ferrets, though those, like every other animal which man is careful of rearing and increasing, vary so much in colour, that there is a difference even between male and female.
To us it appears, that the animal mentioned by Seba as the _weasel of Java_, and which, he says, the natives call _koger-angan_, and afterwards spoken of by Brisson by the name of the _ferret of Java_, may possibly be the same animal as the vansire, at least it comes nearer to the vansire than to any animal at present known; but Seba's description is not sufficiently complete to establish a just comparison, which is absolutely necessary to form a solid and explicit judgment.
THE MAKI.[AT]
[AT] The word _maki_ has probably been derived from _mocoek_ or _maucauc_, which is the name given to these animals at Mozambique and in the islands of Madagascar, whence it originally proceeded.
As this name Maki has been given to several animals we can only use it as a generic term, under which we comprehend three animals of the same class, but varying in characters sufficiently numerous to constitute different species. These three animals have long tails, and feet shaped like those of the monkey; but their snout is long, like that of the martin; and they have six incisive teeth in the under jaw, while the monkeys have but four.
The first of this kind is the mococo, or maucauco, (_fig. 173._) commonly known by the name of the _ring-tailed maki_. The second is the mongous, (_fig. 174._) commonly called the _brown maki_; but this denomination is misapplied, for there are among this kind, various colours, some are all brown, others with white cheeks and feet, and still others whose cheeks are black and feet are yellow. The third is the _vari_, (_fig. 175._) called by some the _pied maki_: but this denomination has been also misapplied, for besides those which are pied, that is black and white, there are some all white, and others entirely black. These animals are all natives of the eastern parts of Africa, and principally of Madagascar, where they are found in great numbers.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon_
The maucauco is a beautiful animal; he is remarkable for the largeness of his eyes, and the length of the hind legs, which by far exceed those before, and for his long and handsome tail which is continually elevated, and in motion, and upon which are thirty rings alternately black and white, all very distinct and separate from each other. He is of a gentle disposition, and although he greatly resembles the monkeys in many particulars, he has not any of their malicious dispositions. When in a state of liberty, they are frequently seen at Madagascar in companies of thirty or forty together. This animal is neither mischievous nor ferocious; but as he is always in motion, it is customary to keep him chained when in a state of captivity, for he may be rendered so tame as to be let loose without any danger of his quitting his master. When he moves, it is in an oblique direction, like all animals which have hands instead of feet. He jumps with greater facility than he walks, and is so silent an animal, that his voice is seldom heard, except when irritated, and then he utters a sharp, but very short cry. He sleeps in a sitting posture, with his muzzle resting on his breast. His body is not thicker than that of a cat, but it is longer, and he appears to be larger than he really is from the length of his legs. His hair is very soft, although it stands almost upright. The genital parts of the male maucauco are small and concealed, while those of the mongous are disproportionally large and apparent.
The mongous is less than the maucauco, but his hair is likewise short, silky, and a little curled. His nose is thicker, and resembles that of the vari. I had a mongous in my possession for several years; his coat was brown, his eyes yellow, his nose black, and his ears short. He had a custom of playing with, and biting his own tail, and by this method destroyed four or five of the last vertebræ. He was very slovenly, and so troublesome that we were obliged to keep him chained. Whenever he got loose, he visited the shops in the neighbourhood, and would make free with fruit, sugar, sweetmeats, &c. and to obtain which, he would open the boxes that contained them. At such times it was difficult to retake him, and he would bite even those he best knew. He was almost continually grumbling, and when weary of being alone, he made a loud noise which somewhat resembled the croaking of a frog. This was a male animal, and had extremely large testicles for the size of his body. He was fond of she-cats, but his connection with them was too slight to be productive. He was very fearful of the cold and wet, and never stirred far from the fire-side, where he sat upright to warm himself. He was fed with bread and fruits; his tongue was rough, like that of a cat, and he would lick a person's hand until it became inflamed, and if not guarded against would generally end with a bite. He died with the cold in the winter, 1750, although he never stirred from the fire-side. He was very brisk in his motions, and sometimes petulant. He often slept in the day, or rather dozed, for his sleep was so light, that he was disturbed with the least noise.
There are many varieties of the mongous both in colour and size. The one we have just mentioned was quite brown, and about the size of a middling cat. We saw one which, though adult, was not bigger than the loir. If this small mongous had not perfectly resembled the great one in every respect but in size, it would certainly have been a different species; but the resemblance was so perfect, that we think ourselves justifiable in ranking them together.
The _vari_ is much longer, stronger, and wilder, than the maucauco, and is even dangerous in its free state. Travellers tell us, "that these animals are as furious as tigers, and very difficult to be tamed; and that their voice is so very loud, that when there are only two together in the woods, it might be imagined the noise proceeded from a hundred." The voice of the vari is somewhat like the roaring of the lion, and is very alarming to those who hear it for the first time. This astonishing power of voice in an animal of so middling a size, depends on the singular structure of the windpipe, the two branches of which enlarge and form a concavity near its entrance into the tubes of the lungs. Thus he differs greatly from the maucauco both by nature and conformation. His hair in general is much longer, and he has a kind of ruff round the neck, consisting of very long hair, which forms a very apparent character, and by which he may easily be distinguished. In colour he varies from quite black to white, and his hair, though very long and soft, stands very nearly upright. His muzzle is thicker and longer than that of the maucauco. His ears are much shorter, and edged with long hairs; and his eyes are of so deep an orange-colour, that they appear to be red.
The maucauco, the mongous, and the vari, are all of the same country; and seem to be confined to Madagascar, Mozambique, and the neighbouring lands of those islands. It does not appear, by the testimony of any traveller, that they are to be found in any other part of the world; and seem to be in the Old Continent, what the opossums are in the New. In respect to shape, the makis seem to fill up the shade between the long-tailed monkey, and lower orders of quadrupeds; for they have four hands and a long tail like monkeys, and at the same time, have a long muzzle like foxes and polecats. In their manners, the makis, however, partake more of the monkey, for although they sometimes feed upon flesh, and take pains to seize on birds, they are less carnivorous than frugivorous; and even in a domestic state they prefer roots, fruit, and bread, to flesh, raw or roasted.
_END OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME._
T. Gillet, Printer, Wild-Court.
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Transcriber's Note
All obvious typographical errors were corrected. Where several variant spellings were used, the most prevalent version was use to standardize them. All illustration headers were standardized to display "_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._" above each group and the captions were also standardized. The illustration captions were arranged in ascending numbers. Illustrations which split paragraphs were moved to rejoin them and in some cases, moved to the end of the section. To match the other volumes in this series, the list for the placement of images was positioned after the Table of Contents. "M. Allemand" probably should have been "M. Allamand" a Swiss-Dutch natural philosopher (1713-1787) that is reported to have contributed to Buffon's _Histoire Naturelle_. This was left unchanged.
p. 113, missing end quote added (... for digestion." Dr. Klockner ...). p. 297, missing end quote added at end of paragraph. P. 302, missing end quote added at end of paragraph.