56 
SANTAEEM. 
Chap. L 
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 pro- 
longed so as to resemble the stridulation of a grass- 
hopper. 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, Al 
ybyrete (in Portuguese, Pregui^a da terra firme), or 
sloth of the mainland, to distinguish it from the Bra- 
dypus infuscatus, which has a long, black and tawny 
stripe between the shoulders, and is called Ai Ygapo 
(Preguiga 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 
disputed 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 Embaiiba" (beast of the Cecropia 
tree) ; the leaves of the Cecropia being the food of the 
sloth. It is a strange sight to watch the uncouth 
creature, fit production of these silent shades, lazily 
moving from branch to branch. Every movement 
betrays, not indolence exactly, but extreme caution. 
He never looses his hold from one branch without 
first securing himself to the next, and when he does 
