88 THE SLOTH. 



serving his motions. If the ground were rough, he would 

 pull himself forwards by means of his fore legs, at a pretty 

 good pace, and he invariably shaped his course towards 

 the nearest tree. But if I put him upon a smooth and well 

 trodden part of the road, he appeared to be in trouble and 

 distress: his favorite abode was the back of a chair ; and, 

 after getting all his legs in a line upon the topmost part of 

 it, he would hang there for hours together, and often, with 

 a low and inward cry, would seem to invite me to take no- 

 tice of him. 



" The Sloth, in its wild state, spends its whole life in 

 the trees, and never leaves them but through force or acci- 

 dent. An all-ruling Providence has ordained man to tread 

 on the surface of the earth, the eagle to soar in the expanse 

 of the skies, and the monkey and squirrel to inhabit the 

 trees : still, these may change their relative situations with- 

 out feeling much inconvenience ; but the Sloth is doomed 

 to spend his whole life in the trees ; and, what is more ex- 

 traordinary, not upon the branches, like the squirrel and the 

 monkey, but under them. He moves suspended from the 

 branch, he rests suspended from it, and he sleeps suspended 

 from it. To enable him to do this, he must have a very 

 different formation from that of any other known quad- 

 ruped. 



" Hence, his seemingly bungled conformation is at once 

 accounted for; and in view of the Sloth leading a painful 

 life, and entailing a melancholy and miserable existence 

 on its progeny, it is but fair to surmise that it enjoys life 

 just as much as any other animal, and that his extraordi- 

 nary formation and singular habits are but further proofs 

 to engage us to admire the wonderful works of Omnipo- 

 tence. 



"It must be observed, that the Sloth does not hang 

 head downwards like the vampyre. When asleep, he 

 supports himself on a branch parallel to the earth. He 

 first seizes the branch with one arm, and then with the 



