56 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



THE SLOTH. 



From Waterton's Wanderings in South America. 



Let us now turn our attention to the Sloth, whose 

 native haunts have hitherto been so little known, and 

 probably little looked into. Those who have written on 

 this singular animal have remarked that he is in a perpe- 

 tual state of pain, that he is proverbially slow in his move- 

 ments, that he is a prisoner in space, and that as soon as 

 he has consumed all the leaves of the tree upon which he 

 had mounted, he rolls himself up in the form of a ball, and 

 then falls to the ground. This is not the case. 



If the naturalists who have written the history of the 

 Sloth, had gone into the wilds, in order to examine his 

 haunts and economy, they would not have drawn the fore- 

 going conclusions; they would have learned, that though 

 all other quadrupeds may be described while resting upon 

 the ground, the Sloth is an exception to this rule, and that 

 his history must be written while he is in the tree. 



This singular animal is destined by nature to be pro- 

 duced, to live and to die in trees; and to do justice to him, 

 naturalists must examine him in this his upper element. 

 He is a scarce and solitary animal, and being good food, 

 he is never allowed to escape. He inhabits remote and 

 gloomy forests, where snakes take up their abode, and 

 where cruelly stinging ants and scorpions, and swamps, 

 and innumerable thorny shrubs and bushes, obstruct the 

 steps of civilized man. Were 3'ou to draw your own con- 

 clusions from the descriptions which have been given of 

 the Sloth, you would probably suspect, that no naturalist 

 has actually gone into the wilds with the fixed determina- 

 tion to find him out and examine his haunts, and see whe- 

 ther nature has committed any blunder in the formation of 

 this extraordinary creature, vvhicli appears to us so forlorn 

 and miserable, so ill put together, and so totally unfit to 

 enjoy the 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 then 

 it is that he looks up in your face with a countenance that 

 says, "Have pity on mc, for I am in pain and sorrow." 



It mostly happens that Indians and Negroes are the peo- 

 ple 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 na- 

 turally arisen by examining the Sloth in those places where 

 nature never intended that he should be exhibited. 



However, we are now in his own 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 ol his anatomy, 

 we shall be enabled to account for his movements here- 

 after, when we see him in his proper hauits. His fore- 

 legs, or, more correctly speaking, his arms, -.ire 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 corkscrew. 

 Both the fore and hind legs, by their form, and by the man- 

 ner in which they are joined to the body, are quite incapa- 

 citated from acting in a perpendicular direction, or in sup- 

 porting 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 £s your body would be were you to 

 throw yourself on all fours, and try to support it on the 

 ends of your toes and fingers — a trying position. W^ere the 

 floor of glass, or of a polished surface, the Sloth would actu- 

 ally 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 and awkward a manner, as to acquire 

 him the name of Sloth. 



Indeed, his looks and his gestures evidently betray his 

 uncomfortable situation; and as a sigh every now and then 

 escapes him, we may be entitled to conclude that he is actu- 

 ally 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 pull himself forwards by means of his fore-legs, at a 

 pretty good pace; and he invarial)ly shaped his course to- 

 wards 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 favourite abode was the back of a 

 chair; and after getting all his legs in a line upon the top- 

 most part of it, he would hang there for hours together, 

 and often, with a low and inward cry, would seem to invite 

 mc 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 by acci- 

 dent. An all-ruling Providence has ordered man to tread 

 on the surface of the earth, the eagle to soar in the expanse 



