BRA 



BRA 



extremely coarse, moderately long 1 , and 

 vc/^ thickly covers the body, more espe- 

 cially about the back and thighs. A re- 

 markable character as to colour, in this 

 species, is a wide patch or space on the 

 upper part of the back, of a bright ferru- 

 ginous, or rather pale orange colour, spot- 

 ted on each side with black, and marked 

 down the middle with a very conspicuous 

 black stripe, wide at its origin, and gradu- 

 ally tapering to its extremity ; it reaches 

 more than half way down the back, and 

 terminates in a sort of tritid mark The 

 tail is nearly imperceptible, being so ex- 

 tremely short as to be concealed from 

 view by the fur. 



The s'oth feeds entirely on vegetables, 

 and particularly on leaves and fruit. Its 

 voice is said to be so inconceivably singu- 

 lar, and of such a mournful melanchol , 

 attended, at the same time, with such a 

 peculiarity of aspect, as at once to excite 

 a mixture of pity and disgust ; and it is 

 added, that the animal makes use of this 

 natural yell as its best mode of defence, 

 since other creatures are frightened away 

 by the uncommon sound. This, how- 

 ever, is far from being its only refuge ; 

 for so great is the degree of muscular 

 strength which it possesses, that it is ca- 

 pable of seizing a dog with its claws, and 

 holding it,in spite of all its efforts to escape, 

 till it perishes with hunger ; the sloth it- 

 self being so well calculated for support- 

 ing abstinence, that the celebrated Kirch- 

 er assures us of its power in this respect, 

 havingbeen exemplified by the very sin- 

 gplor experiment of suffering one, which 

 had fastened itself to a pole, to remain in 

 that situation, without any sustenance, 

 upwards of forty days. This extraordi- 

 nary animal is an inhabitant of the hotter 

 parts of South America. It is nearly as 

 lai-g;-* as a middle sized dog 



B. Didactylus, or two-toed sloth, is also 

 a native of South America; and it is as- 

 serted, on good authority, that it is like- 

 wise found in some parts of India, as well 

 as in the Island of Ceylon. In its general 

 appearance, as well as in size, it bears a 

 considerable resemblance to the former 

 species : it is, however, somewhat more 

 slender in its shape, covered with smooth- 

 er or less coarse and harsh hair, and is of 

 a more uniform or less varied tinge ; and, 

 in particular, is strikingly distinguished, 

 as a species, by having only two claws on 

 the fore-feet; it is also a much more ac- 

 tive animal, and, even when imported into 

 Europe, has been lcnown,accordingtothe 

 testimony of the Count de Buflfon, to as- 

 cend and descend from a tall tree several 



times in a day ; whereas the three-toed 

 sloth with difficulty performs that opera- 

 tion in a whole day, and can scarcely 

 crawl a few hundred yards in the space 

 of many hours. 



B Ursinus, or ursine sloth, isby far the 

 largest species : it is a native of India, 

 and has been but lately introduced to the 

 knowledge of European naturalists. It 

 was brought from tl e neighbourhood of 

 Patna in Bengal. This animal has, at 

 first sight, so much of the general aspect 

 of a bear, that it has actually been consi- 

 dered as such by some observers : but it 

 is no otherwise related to the bear than 

 by its size and habit, or mere exterior 

 outline. It is about the size of u bear, and 

 is covered all over, except on the face, 

 or rather the snout, which is bare and 

 whitish, with long shaggy black hair, 

 which on the neck and back is much 

 longer than elsewhere: on the forepart of 

 the body the hair points forwards ; on 

 the hinder part backwards ; the eyes are 

 very small; the ear* rather small, and 

 partly hid in the ]ong hair of the head ; 

 it is totally destitute of incisores. or front 

 teeth ; in each jaw there are two canine 

 teeth of a moderate size : the nose or 

 snout is of a somewhat elongated form; 

 it also appears as if furnished with a 

 sort of transverse joint, or internal car- 

 tilage, which admits of a peculiar kind 

 of motion in this part. It is a gentle and 

 good natured animal ; it feeds chiefly on 

 vegetables and milk, is fond of apples, 

 and does not willingly eat animal food, 

 except of a very tender nature, as mar- 

 row, which is readily sucked from a bone 

 presented to it. Its motions are not, as in 

 the two former species, slow and languid, 

 but moderately lively ; and it appears to 

 have a habit of turning itself round and 

 round every now and then, as if for amuse- 

 ment, in the manner of a dog when lying 

 down to sleep. It is said to have a pro- 

 pensity to burrowing under the ground. 

 BRAG, an ingenious and pleasant game 

 at cards, wherein as many may partake 

 as the cards will supply ; the eldest hand 

 dealing three to each person at one time, 

 and turning up the last card all round. 

 Thisdone,each gamester putsdown three 

 stakes, one for each card The first stake 

 is won by the best card turned up in the 

 dealing round; beginning from the ace, 

 king, queen, knave, and so downwards. 

 When cards of the same value are turned 

 up to two or more of the gamesters, the 

 eldest hand gains; but it is to be observed, 

 that the ace of diamonds wins, to what- 

 ever hand it be turned up. 



