request. While I was there, six live kaguangs arrived as a present for
the priest (three light grey, one dark brown, and two greyish brown;
all with irregularly distributed spots); and from these I secured a
little female with her young.

[A hasty and unfounded judgment.] It appeared to be a very harmless,
awkward animal. When liberated from its fetters, it remained lying
on the ground with all its four limbs stretched out, and its belly
in contact with the earth, and then hopped in short awkward leaps,
without thereby raising itself from the ground, to the nearest wall,
which was of planed boards. Arrived there, it felt about it for a long
time with the sharp claw, which is bent inwards, of its fore-hand,
until at length it realized the impossiblity of climbing it at any
part. It succeeded by means of a corner or an accidental crevice in
climbing a foot upwards, and fell down again immediately, because it
had abandoned the comparatively secure footing of its hinder limbs
before its fore-claws had obtained a firm hold. It received no hurt,
as the violence of the fall was broken by the flying membrane which
was rapidly extended. These attempts, which were continued with steady
perseverance, showed an astonishing deficiency of judgment, the animal
endeavoring to do much more than was in its power to accomplish. All
its endeavors, therefore, were unsuccessful, though made without
doing itself any hurt--thanks to the parachute with which Nature
had provided it. Had the kaguang not been in the habit of relying
so entirely on this convenient contrivance, it probably would have
exercised its judgment to a greater extent, and formed a more correct
estimate of its ability. The animal repeated its fruitless efforts so
often that I no longer took any notice of it, and after some time it
disappeared: but I found it again in a dark corner, under the roof,
where it would probably have waited for the night in order to continue