102 



A NEW HISTORY OF 



its strong and tendinous arms, — the strength of 

 its foreparts, and the slender structure of its hinder 

 ones, — its appetites and astonishing agility, all 

 conspire and force us to concede that patrimony to 

 the whole family for which, never erring nature has 

 most admirably, and most indubitably adapted it. 



There aloft, amid the trees of the tropics, it will 

 find a harmless neighbour in the sloth : — slow 

 indeed and awkward in the extreme, as I have 

 shewn heretofore, when forced from its native 

 haunts; — but lively and active when allowed to 

 remain in them. Whilst the monkey moves with 

 speed, with firmness and security on the upper 

 parts of the branches, — the sloth will be seen 

 rapidly progressing underneath by clinging to 

 them : — both fulfilling by constitutional move- 

 ments, their Creator's imperious mandates. 



When viewed at a distance these two inhabitants 

 of the forest, appear genuine quadrupeds, but a 

 near inspection shews their true characters, and 

 proves that they ought not to be styled four-footed, 

 nor even four-handed animals. The monkey 

 exhibits nothing that can be correctly called a foot, 

 saving the heel on its hinder limbs; — and the 

 sloth can shew nothing that can even be considered 

 part of a foot. 



Here then, I bid farewell to the interesting 



