MAMMALIA — SLOTH. 267 



pace, and he invariably shaped his course towards the nearest tree. But 

 if I put him upon a smooth and well trodden part of the road, he appeared 

 to be in trouble and distress ; his favorite abode was the back of a chair ; 

 and, after getting all his legs in a line upon the topmost part of it, he would 

 hang there for hours together, and often, with a low and inward cry, would 

 seem to invite me to take notice of him. 



" The sloth, in its wild state, spends its whole life in the trees, and never 

 leaves them but through force or accident. An all-ruling Providence has 

 ordained man to tread on the surface of the earth, the eagle to soar in the 

 expanse of the skies, and the monkey and squirrel to inhabit the trees ; still 

 these may change their relative situations without feeling much inconveni- 

 ence ; but the sloth is doomed to spend his whole life in the trees ; and, 

 what is more extraordinary, not upon the branches, like the squirrel and the 

 monkey, but under them. He moves suspended from the branch, he rests 

 suspended from it, and he sleeps suspended from it. To enable him to do 

 this, he must have a very different formation from that of any other known 

 quadruped. 



" Hence, his seemingly bungled conformation is at once accounted for ; 

 and, in lieu of the sloth leading a painful life, and entailing a melancholy 

 and miserable existence on its progeny, it is but fair to surmise that it enjoys 

 life just as much as any other animal, and that his extraordinary forma- 

 tion and singular habits are but further proofs to engage us to admire the 

 wonderful works of Omnipotence. 



" It must be observed, that the sloth does not hang head downwards like 

 the vampire. When asleep, he supports himself on a branch parallel to the 

 earth. He first seizes the branch with one arm, and then with the other; 

 and, after that, brings up both his legs, one by one, to the same branch ; so 

 that all four are in a line ; he seems perfectly at rest in this position. 

 Now, had he a tail, he would be at a loss to know what to do with it in 

 this position ; were he to draw it up Avith his legs, it would interfere with 

 them ; and were he to let it hang down, it would become the sport of the 

 winds. Thus his deficiency of tail is a benefit to him ; it is merely an 

 apology for a tail, scarcely exceeding an inch and a half in length. 



" I observed when he was climbing, he never used his arms both together, 

 but first one and then the other, and so on alternately. There is a singu- 

 larity in his hair, different from that of all other animals, and, I believe, 

 hitherto unnoticed by naturalists; his hair is thick and coarse at the 

 extremity, and gradually tapers to the root, where it becomes fine as the 

 finest spider's web. His fur has so much the hue of the moss which grows 

 on the branches of the trees, that it is very difficult to make him out, when 

 he is at rest. 



" The male of the three-toed sloth has a longitudinal bar of very fine 

 black hair on his back, rather lower than the shoulder-blades ; on each side 

 of this black hair there is a space of yellow hair, equally fine ; it has the 



