148 THE MONKE Y FAMIL Y. 



after this the arrival of a living sloth at the Zoological Gardens, 

 Regent's Park, proved my statement to the fullest extent. The 

 animal mounted up into a tree which had been prepared for it, and 

 moved rapidly along, suspended by its natural hooks (we can 

 scarcely call them claws), underneath the branches; but it was never 

 observed to walk or to rest upon the upper side of those branches. 

 The arrival, too, of a fine ant-bear in the same gardens afforded a 

 demonstration to the visitors that it could not possibly move forward 

 with any manner of ease or comfort to itself, unless the long and 

 sharp claws of its fore feet were doubled up (to use the expression), 

 and the fore feet themselves placed on their outward sides a posi- 

 tion entirely different from that of any other known quadruped, never- 

 theless quite adapted to the habits of the animal in question. 



I beg to offer here two anecdotes, which will show how cautious 

 one ought to be in giving full credit to statements apparently well- 

 founded, and believed by the public in general. 



The South American quadruped named tapir is considered the 

 largest wild animal in the forests of Guiana. It is called Maipourie 

 by the native Indians ; and, as it resembles a dwarf cow somewhat 

 in shape, when viewed from a distance, the Dutch planters have 

 given it the name of bosch, or bush-cow. In the year 1807, some 

 thirty miles up the beautiful river Demerara, in north latitude about 

 six degrees, there lived an elderly Dutch settler, whose name was 

 Laing. He was one of those farming-looking gentlemen, who saun- 

 tered up and down his sylvan domain with a long pipe in his mouth, 

 and with a straw hat on his head, broad enough to serve both himself 

 and his wife, by way of an umbrella, in the blazing heat of an equa- 

 torial sun. Mynheer Laing had stubbed the surrounding trees to a 

 certain extent, and this enabled him to have a little dairy and enough 

 of land to feed his cattle, and to enclose a garden for the culinary 

 wants of his household. In passing up and down the river in your 

 Indian canoe his house appeared to great advantage. It stood near 

 the top of a gently-sloping hill ; whilst the high trees of magnificent 

 foliage surrounded it on every side, saving that which faced the river, 

 and there the green sward came down quite to the water's edge. Or* 

 viewing it, you would have said that it was as lovely a place for a 

 man of moderate desires as could be found on this terrestrial globe. 



