294 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



existence'?" Were the question put to me, I would 

 answer, I cannot conceive that any of them are 

 created for misery. That thousands live in misery 

 there can be no doubt; but then, misery has 

 overtaken them in their path through life, and 

 wherever man has come up with them, I should 

 suppose they have seldom escaped from experi- 

 encing a certain proportion of misery. 



After fully satisfying myself that it only leads 

 the world into error to describe the sloth while 

 he is on the ground, or in any place except in a 

 tree, I carried the one I had in my possession to 

 his native haunts. As soon as he came in con- 

 tact with the branch of a tree, all went right with 

 him. I could see as he climbed up into his own 

 country, that he was on the right road to happi- 

 ness; and felt persuaded more than ever, that 

 the world has hitherto erred in its conjectures 

 concerning the sloth, on account of naturalists, 

 not having given a description of him when he 

 was in the only position in which he ought to have 

 been described, namely, clinging to the branch of 

 a tree. 



As the appearance of this part of the country 

 bears great resemblance to Cayenne, and is so 

 near to it, I was in hopes to have found the 

 Grande Gobe Mouche of Buffon, and the septi- 

 coloured Tangara, both of which were common in 

 Cayenne; but after many diligent searches, I 

 did not succeed; nor could I learn from the In- 

 dians that they had ever seen those two species of 

 birds in these parts. 



Here I procured the Grosbeak with a rich scar- 

 let body, and black head and throat. Buff on 



