BUFFON'S VIEWS 



exactly suited to its mode of life. Cut down forests and 

 sloths must inevitably disappear. It is as purely 

 arboreal as the whale is aquatic. But while many partly 

 or wholly arboreal beasts (for example, the tree kangaroo, 

 described later) are much like their immediate relatives 

 which live upon the ground, the sloth is so constructed 

 that it differs absolutely from its nearest allies ; its closely 

 approximated and bent claws can only serve as hooks 

 for suspension. Nevertheless, the sloth can progress 

 upon the ground, but only with difficulty and pain. 

 Waterton relates in his Wanderings, that he kept a tame 

 sloth ; but, indeed, the term tame as applied to perhaps 

 the most peaceful even among vegetarian creatures, 

 seems unnecessary. And upon this sloth he made obser- 

 vations as to its walking powers. The melancholy, and at 

 the same time slightly comic, aspect of the sloth, incited 

 M. de Buffon to the following singular series of remarks 

 in his natural history. The life of the sloth being res- 

 tricted, and its general circumstance untoward, the visage 

 of .the animal has retained their impress ; for " all these 

 circumstances announce their wretchedness and call to 

 our mind those imperfect sketches of Nature, which, 

 having scarcely the power of existence, only remained a 

 short time in the world, and were then effaced from the 

 list of beings." It was further the great French natura- 

 list's opinion that some animals, like some men, seem to 

 be created only for sadness. De Buffon had to write 

 with a vigilant and aggressive clergy in his mind and 

 was compelled to adopt these somewhat hypocritical 

 sentiments. But in spite of this, which was at the time 

 the orthodox view of the animal creation, the sloth is by 

 no means an animal to be pitied. No creature that is 

 perfectly in accord and harmony with surrounding 

 nature, inanimate as well as animate, can be distressful. 

 The visitor to the Zoo will note at once two distinct 

 features about the sloth ; firstly, its close and shaggy 



