WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 219 



after that, brings up both his legs, one by one, to the same 

 branch ; so that all four are in a line : he seems perfectly at 

 rest in this position. Now, had he a tail, he would be at a 

 loss to know .what to do with it in this position : were he to 

 draw it up within his legs, it would interfere with them ; 

 and were he to let it hang down, it would become the 

 sport of the winds. Thus his deficiency of tail is a benefit 

 to him; it is merely an apology for a tail, scarcely 

 exceeding an inch and a half in length. 



I observed, when he was climbing, he never used his 

 arms both together, but first one and then the other, and 

 so on alternately. There is a singularity in his hair, 

 different from that of all other animals, and, I believe, 

 hitherto unnoticed by naturalists ; his hair is thick and 

 coarse at the extremity, and gradually tapers to the root, 

 where it becomes fine as a spider's web. His fur has so 

 much the hue of the moss which grows on the branches 

 of the trees, that it is very difficult to make him out when 

 he is at rest. 



The male of the three-toed sloth has a longitudinal bar 

 of very fine black hair on his back, rather lower than the 

 shoulder-blades ; on each side of this black bar there is a 

 space of yellow hair, equally fine ; it has the appearance 

 of being pressed into the body, and looks exactly as if it 

 had been singed. If we examine the anatomy of his fore- 

 legs, we shall immediately perceive by their firm and 

 muscular texture, how very capable they are of supporting 

 the pendent weight of his body, both in climbing and at 

 rest ; and, instead of pronouncing them a bungled com- 

 position, as a celebrated naturalist has done, we shall 

 consider them as remarkably well calculated to perform 

 their extraordinary functions. 



As the sloth is an inhabitant of forests within the 

 tropics, where the trees touch each other in the greatest 



