THE MONKE Y FA MIL Y. 175 



down, like an inanimate mass for their stiff and inactive limbs 

 have not time to extend themselves in order to break the fall." Had 

 the author of these passages just quoted been with me in the forests 

 of Guiana, his opinion of the sloth would have been diametrically 

 opposed to that which he has so erroneously entertained, and so 

 rashly committed to paper. Believe me, gentle reader, good dame 

 Nature has never doomed a child of hers to such a sorry task as this, 

 of falling wilfully from a tree through the pressure of hunger. No 

 such thing. Long ago I showed in the "Wanderings," that the sloth 

 is amply provided, by its formation, with everything requisite for the 

 preservation of health and life, in the arboreal regions where Pro- 

 vidence has ordered it to roam. Far from stripping an entire tree of 

 its leaves, in order to satisfy the calls of hunger, I know, by actual 

 observation, that the sloth merely takes a mouthful or two of the 

 foliage at a time, and then moves onwards. Its falling from the tree, 

 " like an inanimate mass," is an imaginary speculation, fit for the 

 nursery fireside on a winter's evening. Fancy to yourself a sloth 

 falling souse to the ground from some lofty tree in the forest ! If 

 not killed on the spot, most assuredly it would be in_no trim to 

 pursue its journey in quest of food. A surgeon, or a nurse with a 

 poultice, would be required immediately but, alas, as I know too 

 well, these articles are not to be met with in the far distant and im- 

 measurable wilds where the sloth takes up its abode. Let us hope 

 that future writers on the form and economy of animals will pause, 

 and pause again, before they send their labours to the press. 



" Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna/' 



Whenever we inspect an animal, the formation of which puts us 

 at defiance, we must not rely solely upon conjecture. We may rest 

 quite assured, that every animal is perfect as far as regards the situa- 

 tion in which it has been placed by nature, and the economy which 

 it is destined to practise. The outlines of its supposed " bungled 

 conformation " may always be attributed to the fallacy of our own 

 misconceptions, and not to the ever-faithful hand of the Creator. 



A trifle more on the habits of certain animals, which, when left to 

 their own resources, know exactly where to find their necessary food. 

 Many animals have a very confined range the human louse, to wit. 



