56 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
THE SLOTH. 
From Waterton’s Wanderings in South America. 
Let us now turn our attention to the Sloth, whose 
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 move- 
ments, 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 mounted, he rolls himself up in the form of a ball, and 
then falls tPfche 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 fore- 
going conclusions; they would have learned, that though 
all other quadrupeds may be described while resting upori 
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 trees; and to do justice, to him, 
naturalists must examine him in this his upper, element. 
He is a scarcer and solitary animal, and being good food, 
he is never allowed to escape. He inhabits remote Sind 
gloomy forests, where snakes take up their abode, and 
where cruelly stinging ants and scorpions, and swamps, 
and innumerable thorny shrubs and bushes, obstruct the 
steps of civilized man. Were you to draw your own con- 
clusions from the descriptions which have been given of 
the Sloth, you would probably suspect, that no naturalist 
has actually gone into the wilds with the fixed determina- 
tion to find him out and examine his haunt|, and see whe- 
ther nature has committed any blunder in the formation of 
this extraordinary creature, which appears to us so forlorn 
and miserable, so ill put together, and so "totally unfit to 
enjoy the blessings which have been so bountifully given to 
the rest of animated nature; for, as it has formerly been 
remarked,, he has no soles to his feet, and he is evidently 
ill at ease when he tries to move on the ground, and then 
it is that he looks up in your face with a countenance that 
says, “ Have pity on me, for I am in pain and sorrow.” 
It mostly happens that Indians and Negroes are the peo- 
ple who catch the Sloth, and bring it to the white man: 
hence it may be conjectured that the erroneous accounts we 
have hitherto had of the Sloth, have not been penned down 
with the slightest intention to mislead the reader, or give 
him an exaggerated history, but that these errors have na- 
turally arisen by examining the Sloth in those places where 
nature never intended that he should be exhibited. 
However, we are now in his own domain. Man but 
little frequents these thick and noble forests, which extend 
far and wide on every side of us. This, then, is the proper 
place to go in quest of the Sloth. We will first take a near 
view of him. By obtaining a knowledge of his anatomy, 
we shall be enabled to account for his movements here- 
after, when we see him in his proper haunts. His fore- 
legs, or, more correctly speaking, his arms, are apparently 
much too long, while his hind-legs are very short, and look 
as if they could be bent almost to the shape of a corkscrew. 
Both the fore and hind legs, by their form, and by the man- 
ner in which they are joined to the body, are quite incapa- 
citated from acting in a perpendicular direction, or in sup- 
porting it on the earth, as the bodies of other quadrupeds 
are supported, by their legs. Hence, when you place him 
on the floor, his belly touches the ground. Now, granted, 
,thaat he supported himself on his legs like other animals, 
nevertheless he would be in pain, for he has no soles to his 
feet, and his claws are very sharp and long, and curved; so 
that, were his body supported by his feet, it would be by 
their extremities, just as your body would be were you to 
throw yourself on all fours, and try to support it on the 
ends of your toes and fingers — a trying position. Were the 
floor of glass, or of a polished surface, the Sloth would actu- 
ally be quite stationary; but as the ground is generally 
rough, with little protuberances upon it, such as stones, or 
roots of grass, &c., this just suits the Sloth, and he moves 
his fore-legs in all directions, in order to find something to 
lay hold of; 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 themame 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 actu- 
ally 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 opportuuity 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 to- 
wards 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 top- 
most 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 him. 
The Sloth, in its wild state, spends its whole life in the 
trees, and never leaves them but through force, or by acci- 
dent. An all-ruling Providence has ordered man to tread 
on the surface of the earth, the eagle to soar in the expanse 
