PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



wieldy and massive strength ; and in all this region 

 there is a total dissimilarity to the sloth, and in- 

 deed to all other recent animals of tEe same natural 

 family. It is almost impossible for any drawing or 

 any description to give an adequate notion of the 

 extent to which strength and massiveness is carried 

 in this animal ; but the skeleton figured in a previous 

 page (see p. 359) will perhaps serve to assist the reader. 



The first thing to be noticed with reference to this 

 part is the wide expanse of bone stretching out from 

 each side of the vertebral column to a distance of 

 five feet, and scarcely leaving any interval in the 

 hollow of the back. Powerful bones are seen placed 

 at right angles to the spine and vertically over the 

 hind legs, and these form a solid mass well fitted to 

 withstand any amount of pressure, and to enable the 

 hind legs to support without injury almost any effort 

 that could be made by the animal when resting, as if 

 on a tripod, upon its hind legs and tail. This great 

 width also indicates a large size of the abdominal 

 cavity, adapted to the habits of the animal as a 

 vegetable feeder, but at the same time rendering it 

 ponderous and unwieldy. 



Articulated to each of the broad plates of bone 

 stretching out thus from the back, we find legs of cor- 

 responding magnitude and strength. The thigh-bone 

 is not more than two feet four inches long, but its 

 circumference at the smallest part is equal to its 

 length, while the circumference of the thigh-bone of 

 an elephant is not more than twelve inches. Although, 

 however, the thigh-bone is short, it is set vertically, 

 and not obliquely as in most animals, and its full 

 length is thus taken advantage of, although the rate 



