Cuap. VIII. SLOTHS. 207 
guica das vargens), or sloth of the flooded lands. Some travellers in 
South America have described the sloth as very nimble in its native 
woods, and have disputed the justness of the name which has been 
bestowed on it. The inhabitants of the Amazons region, however, 
both Indians and descendants of the Portuguese, hold to the common 
opinion, and consider the sloth as the type of laziness. It is very 
common for one native to call another, in reproaching him for idleness, 
‘‘bicho do Embaiiba” (beast of the Cecropia tree) ; the leaves of the 
Cecropia being the food of the sloth. It is a strange sight to watch 
the uncouth creature, fit production of these silent shades, lazily moving 
from branch to branch. Every movement betrays, not indolence 
exactly, but extreme caution. He never looses his hold from one 
branch without first securing himself to the next, and when he does not 
immediately find a bough to grasp with the rigid hooks into which his 
paws are so curiously transformed, he raises his body, supported on his 
hind legs, and claws around in search of a fresh foothold. After watch- 
ing the animal for about half an hour I gave him a charge of shot ; he 
fell with a terrific crash, but caught a bough, in his descent, with his 
powerful claws, and remained suspended. Our Indian lad tried to 
climb the tree, but was driven back by swarms of stinging ants; the 
poor little fellow slid down in a sad predicament, and plunged into the 
brook to free himself. Two days afterwards I found the body of the 
sloth on the ground: the animal having dropped on the relaxation of 
the muscles a few hours after death. In one of our voyages, Mr. 
Wallace and I saw a sloth (B. infuscatus) swimming across a river, at 
a place where it was probably three hundred yards broad. I believe 
it is not generally known that this animal takes to the water. Our men 
caught the beast, cooked, and ate him. 
In returning from these trips we were sometimes benighted on the 
campos. We did not care for this on moonlit nights, when there was 
no danger of losing the path. The great heat felt in the middle hours 
of the day is much mitigated by four o’clock in the afternoon ; a few 
birds then make their appearance ; small flocks of ground doves run 
about the stony hillocks ; parrots pass over and sometimes settle in the 
ilhas ; pretty little finches of several species, especially one kind, streaked 
with olive-brown and yellow, and somewhat resembling our yellow 
hammer, but I believe not belonging to the same genus, hop about the 
grass, enlivening the place with a few musical notes. The Carashtie 
{(Mimus) also then resumes its mellow, blackbird-like song; and two 
or three species of humming-bird, none of which however are peculiar 
to the district, flit about from tree to tree. On the other hand, the 
little blue-and-yellow-striped lizards, which abound amongst the herbage 
during the scorching heats of midday, retreat towards this hour to their 
hiding-places ; together with the day-flying insects and the numerous 
campo butterflies. Some of these latter resemble greatly our English 
species found in heathy places—namely, a fritillary, Argynnis (Euptoieta) 
Hegesia, and two smaller kinds, which are deceptively like the little 
Nemeobius Lucina. After sunset the air becomes delightfully cool and 
fragrant with fruits and flowers. The nocturnal animals then come 
forth. A monstrous hairy spider, five inches in expanse (Mygale 
