and rare little animals, which belong to the class of semi-apes,
are, as I was assured in Luzon and Leyte, to be found only in
Samar, and live exclusively on charcoal. My first "mago" was, in the
beginning, somewhat voracious, but he disdained vegetable food, and was
particular in his choice of insects, devouring live grasshoppers with
delight. [172] It was extremely ludicrous, when he was fed in the day
time, to see the animal standing, perched up perpendicularly on his two
thin legs with his bare tail, and turning his large head--round as a
ball, and with very large, yellow, owl-like eyes--in every direction,
looking like a dark lantern on a pedestal with a circular swivel. Only
gradually did he succeed in fixing his eyes on the object presented
to him; but, as soon as he did perceive it, he immediately extended
his little arms sideways, as though somewhat bashful, and then, like
a delighted child, suddenly seizing it with hand and mouth at once,
he deliberately tore the prey to pieces. During the day the mago
was sleepy, short-sighted, and, when disturbed, morose; but with
the decreasing daylight he expanded his pupils, and moved about in
a lively and agile manner, with rapid noiseless leaps, generally
sideways. He soon became tame, but to my regret died after a few
weeks; and I succeeded only for a short time in keeping the second
little animal alive.


CHAPTER XX


[Pearl divers from the Carolines.] In Guiuan I was visited by some
Micronesians, who for the last fourteen days had been engaged at
Sulangan on the small neck of land south-east from Guiuan, in diving
for pearl mussels (mother-of-pearl), having undertaken the dangerous