THE SLOTH. 
336 
his dejected state. When he was at length 
taken down, a dog was let loose on him ; he 
presently seized this assailant in his claws, 
and held him there till he died of hunger. 
In this account the slowness of the mo- 
tions, of the sloth is considerably exaggerated; 
as we learn from later writers that he will 
move at the rate of fifty or sixty paces in a 
day, and one that was on board ship climbed 
to the mast-head in about an hour. 
In climbing, the sloth first carelessly stretches 
out one of his fore paws, and fixes his claws in 
the bark of the tree as high as he can reach ; 
he then heavily drags up his body, and gra- 
dually fixes his other paws, raising himself ap- 
parently with the utmost difficulty. When in 
the tree, he continues there till he has stripped 
it of leaves and bark, upon which he feeds ; 
and then, to save himself the trouble of a 
tedious and laborious descent, he drops, it is 
said, to the ground, being preserved by his 
