WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 177 



has actually gone into the wilds with the fixed 

 determination to find him out and examine his 

 haunts and see whether nature has committed any 

 blunder in the formation of this extraordinary 

 creature, which appears to us so forlorn and 

 miserable, so ill put together, and so totally unfit 

 to enjoy the blessings which have been so boun- 

 tifully given to the rest of animated nature; for, 

 as it has formerly been remarked, he has no soles 

 to his feet, and he is evidently ill at ease when he 

 tries to move on the ground, and it is then that he 

 looks up in your face with a countenance that 

 says, "Have pity on me, for I am in pain and 

 sorrow." 



It mostly happens that Indians and Negroes 

 are the people who catch the sloth, and bring it 

 to the white man: hence it may be conjectured 

 that the erroneous accounts we have hitherto had 

 of the sloth, have not been penned down with the 

 slightest intention to mislead the reader, or give 

 him an exaggerated history, but that these errors 

 have naturally arisen by examining the sloth in 

 those places where nature never intended that he 

 should be exhibited. 



However, we are now in his own domain. Man 

 but little frequents these thick and noble forests, 

 which extend far and wide on every side of us. 

 This, then, is the proper place to go in quest of 

 the sloth. We will first take a near view of him. 

 By obtaining a knowledge of his anatomy, we 

 shall be enabled to account for his movements 

 hereafter, when we see him in his proper haunts. 

 His fore-legs, or, more correctly speaking, his 

 arms, are apparently much too long, while his 



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