310 The Andes and the Amazon. 



flooded lands. Four or five species of armadillo inhabit 

 the valley. These little nocturnal burrowing edentates 

 are the puny representatives of the gigantic Glyptodon of 

 Pleistocene times, and the sloths are the dwindling shad- 

 ows of the lordly Megatherium. There ai"e two species of 

 three-toed sloths — one inliabiting the swampy lowlands, 

 the other confined to the terra-firma land. They lead a 

 lonely life, never in groups, harmless and frugal as a her- 

 mit. They have four stomachs, but not the long intestines 

 of ruminating animals. They feed chiefly on the leaves 

 of the trumpet-tree {Cecrqpia), resembling our horse-chest- 

 nut. The natives, both Indian and Brazilian, hold the 

 common opinion that the sloth is the type of laziness. The 

 capybara or ronsoco, the largest of living rodents, is quite 



common on the river 

 side. It is gregarious 

 and amphibious,^ and 

 resembles a mammoth 

 guinea-pig. Pacas and 

 agoutis are most abun- 

 capybara. dant In the lowlands. 



and are nocturnal. These semi-hoofed rodents, like the 

 Toxodon of old, approach the Pachyderms. The tapir, or 

 gran-bestia, as it is called, is a characteristic quadruped of 

 South America. It is a clumsy-looking animal, with a 

 tough hide of an iron-gray color, covered with a coat of 

 short coarse hair. Its flesh is dry, but very palatable. It 

 has a less powerful proboscis than the Malay species. M. 

 Eouhn distinguishes another species from the mountains, 

 which more nearly resembles the Asiatic. The taj^ir, like 

 the condor, for an unknown reason, is not found north of 

 8° N., though it wanders as far south as 40°. We met but 

 one species of peccari, the white-lipped {D. labiatus). It 

 is much larger than the " Mexican hog," and, too thick- 



