RARE MONKEY 



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fringed with long white hairs. The specimen was not 

 more than eight inches in length, exclusive of the tail. 

 Altogether I thought it the prettiest species of its family 

 I had yet seen. One would mistake it, at first sight for a 

 kitten, from its small size, varied colours, and the softness 

 of its fur. It was a most timid creature, screaming and 

 biting when any one attempted to handle it ; it became 

 familiar, however, with the people of the house a few 

 days after it came into their possession. When hungry 

 or uneasy it uttered a weak querulous cry, a shrill note, 

 which was sometimes prolonged so as to resemble the 

 stridulation of a grasshopper. The sloth was of the kind 

 called by Cuvier Bradypus tridactylus, which is clothed 

 with shaggy gray hair. The natives call it, in the Tupi 

 language, Ai ybyrete (in Portuguese, Pregui9a da terra 

 firme), or sloth of the mainland, to distinguish it from the 

 Bradypus infuscatus, which has a long, black and tawny 

 stripe between the shoulders, and is called Ai Ygapo 

 (Pregui9a das vargens), or sloth of the flooded lands. 

 Some travellers in South America have described the 

 sloth as very nimble in its native woods, and have dis- 

 puted the justness of the name which has been bestowed 

 on it. The inhabitants of the Amazons region, however, 

 both Indians and descendants of the Portuguese, hold to 

 the common opinion, and consider the sloth as the type 

 of laziness. It is very common for one native to call 

 another, in reproaching him for idleness, * bicho do Em- 

 baiiba ' (beast of the Cecropia tree) ; the leaves of the 

 Cecropia being the food of the sloth. It is a strange 

 sight to wat-ch the uncouth creature, fit production of 

 these silent shades, lazily moving from branch to branch. 

 Every movement betrays, not indolence exactly, but ex- 

 treme caution. He never looses his hold from one branch 

 without first securing himself to the next, and when he 

 does not immediately find a bough to grasp with the 

 rigid hooks into which his paws are so curiously trans- 

 formed, he raises his body, supported on his hind legs, 

 and claws around in search of a fresh foothold. After 

 watching the animal for about half an hour I gave him 

 a charge of shot ; he fell with a terrific crash, but caught 

 a bough, in his descent, with his powerful claws, and re- 

 mained suspended. Our Indian lad tried to climb the 

 tree, but was driven back by swarms of stinging ants ; 

 the poor little fellow slid down in a sad predicament, 



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