SOUTH AMERICA. 9 



JOURNEY. 



to entreat you to take pity on him. These are FIRST 



A jniTRNP.l 



the only weapons of defence which nature hath 

 given him. While other animals assemble in 

 herds, or in pairs range through these boundless 

 wilds, the sloth is solitary, and almost stationary ; 

 he cannot escape from you. It is said, his piteous 

 moans make the tiger relent, and turn out of the 

 way. Do not then level your gun at him, or 

 pierce him with a poisoned arrow ; he has never 

 hurt one living creature. A few leaves, and 

 those of the commonest and coarsest kind, are 

 all he asks for his support. On comparing him 

 with other animals, you would say that you 

 could perceive deficiency, deformity, and super- 

 abundance in his composition. He has no cutting 

 teeth, and though four stomachs, he still wants 

 the long intestines of ruminating animals. He 

 has only one inferior aperture, as in birds. He 

 has no soles to his feet, nor has he the power 

 of moving his toes separately. His hair is flat, 

 and puts you in mind of grass withered by the 

 wintry blast. His legs are too short; they ap- 

 pear deformed by the manner in which they are 

 joined to the body, and when he is on the ground, 

 they seem as if only calculated to be of use in 

 climbing trees. He has forty-six ribs, while the 

 elephant has only forty; and his claws are dis- 

 proportionably long. Were you to mark down, 

 upon a graduated scale, the different claims to 

 superiority amongst the four-footed animals, this 



