266 MAMMALIA—SLOTH. 
blessings which have been so bountifully given to the rest of animated 
nature; for, as it has formerly been remarked, he has no soles to his feet, 
and he is evidently ill at ease when he tries to move on the ground; and it 
is then that he looks up in your face with a countenance that says, ‘Have 
pity on me, for I am in pain and sorrow.’ 
“Tt mostly happens that Indians and negroes are the people who catch 
the sloth, and bring it to the white man. Hence it may be conjectured that 
the erroneous accounts we have hitherto had of the sloth have not been 
penned down with the slightest intention to mislead the reader, or give him 
an exaggerated history, but that these errors have naturally arisen Ly 
examining the sloth in those places where nature never intended that he 
should be exhibited. 
“ However, we are now in hisown domain. Man but little frequents 
these thick and noble forests, which extend far and wide on every side of 
us. This, then, is the proper place to go in quest of the sloth. We will 
first take a near view of him. By obtaining a knowledge of his anatomy, 
we shall be enabled to account for his movements hereafter, when we see 
nim in his proper haunts. His fore legs, or, more correctly speaking, his 
arms, are apparently much too long, while his hind legs are very short, and 
look as if they could be bent almost to the shape of a cork-screw. Both the 
fore and hind legs, by their form, and by the manner in which they are 
joined to the body, are quite incapacitated from acting in a perpendicular 
direction, or in supporting it on the earth, as the bodies of other quadrupeds 
are supported, by their legs. Hence, when you place him on the floor, his 
belly touches the ground. Now, granted, that he supported himself on his 
legs like other animals, nevertheless he would be in pain, for he has no 
soles to his feet, and his claws are very sharp and long, and curved, so 
that, were his body supported by his feet, it would be by their extremities; 
just as your body would be were you to throw yourself on all fours, and try 
to suppdrt it on the ends of your toes and fingers—a trying position. Were 
the floor of glass, or of a polished surface, the sloth would actually be quite 
stationary ; but as the ground is generally rough, with little protuberances 
upon it, such as stones, or roots of grass, &c., this just suits the sloth, and 
he moves his fore legs in all directions, in order to find something to lay 
hold of; and when he has succeeded, he pulls himself forward, and is thus 
enabled to travel onwards, but, at the same time, in so tardy a manner as to 
acquire him the name of sloth. 
“Indeed, his looks and his gestures evidently betray his uncomfortable 
situation; and, asa sigh every now and then escapes him, we may be 
entitled to conclude that he is actually in pain. 
“Some years ago I kept a sloth in my room for several months. I often 
took him out of the house, and placed him upon the ground, in order to 
have an opportunity of observing his motions. If the ground were rough, 
he would pul. himself forwards by means of his fore legs, at a pretty good 
