352 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



noblest rivers in the world, is provided throughout 

 with an unfailing supply of moisture, and, conse- 

 quently, enjoys perpetual fertility; and, as the rivers 

 are frequently changing their course, they thus de- 

 posit the rich alluvial soil in various parts, and with it 

 also bury the trunks of trees and the carcases of ani- 

 mals washed away in the occasional floods, or lying 

 dead on the river banks. There is an abundant and 

 never-failing supply for the most voracious of vegeta- 

 ble-feeding animals ; and no amount of destruction 

 seems to check, even for a short time, the rapid increase 

 of the grasses and other plants that are indigenous. 



At the time when America was first discovered, this 

 vast district was chiefly tenanted by a small number 

 of species of animals of very strange habits and struc- 

 ture, and of which it may, perhaps, be sufficient to 

 say in general language, that they are represented 

 by the sloth, the armadillo, and the ant-eater: we 

 shall presently see what kind of sloths and armadillos 

 were its inhabitants at a yet earlier period. Besides 

 these, there also existed, among the animals indi- 

 genous in this continent, a kind of camel called the 

 llama, several moderate-sized carnivora, a remarka- 

 ble group of monkeys, and some interesting forms of 

 rodent or gnawing animals. The group first men- 

 tioned (called by naturalists Edentata, or toothless, 

 from the absence of cutting teeth) includes the most 

 interesting both of recent arid fossil species; but, be- 

 fore describing these, it will be better first of all to 

 consider the structure and habits of those which do 

 not belong to this group, but exhibit analogies with 

 the more common types of animal structure in other 

 parts of the world. Amongst these we find a pa- 



