164 



WANDERINGS IN 



Third all directioiis, ill order to find something to lay hold of ; 



Journey. 



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 actually 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 invariably shaped his 

 course towards 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 topmost part of it, he would hang there 

 for hours together, and often, with a low and inward cry, 

 would seem to invite me to take notice of liim. 



The Sloth, in its wild state, spends its whole life in 

 the trees, and never leaves them but through force, or 

 by accident. An all-ruling Providence has ordered man 

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

 • the expanse of the skies, and the monkey and squirrel 



