140 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



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 just 

 enjoys life as much as any other animal, and that its 

 extraordinary formation 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 from 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 

 within 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 ex- 

 ceeding 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 singularity in his 

 hair, different from that of all other animals, and, I 

 believe, hitherto unnoticed by naturalists ; his hair is 



