Chap. I. EVENING ON THE CAMPOS. 57 



not immediately find a bough to grasp with the rigid 

 hooks into which his paws are so curiously trans- 

 formed, he raises his body, supported on his hind 

 less, and claws around in search of a fresh foothold. 

 After watching 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 300 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 be- 

 nighted 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 after- 

 noon ; 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 some- 

 what resembling our yellow-hammer, but I believe not 



