SOUTH AMERICA. 161 

 after it lias been skinned ; and when necessary, stamp Tmnu 



Journey. 



grief, or pain, or pleasure, or rage, or mildness upon it. 



But more of this hereafter. 



Let us now turn our attention to the Sloth, whose The Sloth, 

 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 

 movements, 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 movmted, 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 

 foregoing conclusions ; they Avould 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 the trees ; and to do justice 

 to him, naturalists must examine hiui in this his upper 

 element. He is a scarce and solitary animal, and being 

 good food, he is never allowed to escape. He inhabits Lives in 



11 I • gloomy 



remote and gloomy forests, where snakes take up their forests, 

 abode, and where cruelly stinging ants and scorpions, 



Y 



