WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 185 



The ants have their enemies, as well as the rest 

 of animated nature. Amongst the foremost of 

 these stand the three species of Ant-bears. The 

 smallest is not much larger than a rat; the next 

 is nearly the size of a fox; and the third a stout 

 and powerful animal, measuring about six feet 

 from the snout to the end of the tail. He is the 

 most inoffensive of all animals, and never injures 

 the property of man. He is chiefly found in the 

 inmost recesses of the forest, and seems partial 

 to the low and swampy parts near creeks, where 

 the troely-tree grows. There he goes up and down 

 in quest of ants, of which there is never the least 

 scarcity ; so that he soon obtains a sufficient sup- 

 ply of food, with very little trouble. He cannot 

 travel fast; man is superior to him in speed. 

 Without swiftness to enable him to escape from 

 his enemies, without teeth, the possession of which 

 would assist him in self-defence, and without the 

 power of burrowing in the ground, by which he 

 might conceal himself from his pursuers, he still 

 is capable of ranging through these wilds in per- 

 fect safety; nor does he fear the fatal pressure 

 of the serpent's fold, or the teeth of the famished 

 jaguar. Nature has formed his fore-legs wonder- 

 fully thick, and strong, and muscular, and armed 

 his feet with three tremendous sharp and crooked 

 claws. Whenever he seizes an animal with these 

 formidable weapons, he hugs it close to his body, 

 and keeps it there till it dies through pressure, 

 or through want of food. Nor does the ant-bear, 

 in the meantime, suffer much from loss of aliment, 

 as it is a well-known fact, that he can go longer 

 without food than, perhaps, any other animal, ex- 



