56 SANTABEM. Chap. I. 



colours, and the softness of its fur. It was a most timid 

 creature, screaming and biting when any one attempted 

 to handle it ; it became familiar, however, with the 

 people of the house a few days after it came into their 

 possession. When hungry or uneasy it uttered a weak 

 querulous cry, a shrill note, which was sometimes pro- 

 longed so as to resemble the stridulation of a grass- 

 hopper. The sloth was of the kind called by Cuvier 

 Bradypus tridactylus, which is clothed with shaggy gray 

 hair. The natives call it, in the Tupi language, Ai 

 ybyrete (in Portuguese, Preguica da terra firme), or 

 sloth of the mainland, to distinguish it from the Bra- 

 dypus infuscatus, which has a long, black and tawny 

 stripe between the shoulders, and is called Ai' Ygapo 

 (Preguica 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 



