SOUTH AMERICA. 
267 
ever been in them. Early in January the jacamar fourth 
is in fine plumage for the cabinet of the naturalist.- L ~ 
The largest species measures ten inches and a half 
from the point of the beak to the end of the tail; its 
name amongst the Indians is Una-waya-adoucati, 
that is, grandfather of the jacamar. It is certainly 
a splendid bird; and in the brilliancy and change¬ 
ableness of its metallic colours, it yields to none of 
the Asiatic and African feathered tribe. The colours 
of the female are nearly as bright as those of the 
male, but she wants the white feathers on the throat. 
The large jacamar is pretty common about two hun¬ 
dred miles up the river Demerara. 
Here I had a fine opportunity once more of exa- The 
mining the three-toed sloth. He was in the house sloth, 
with me for a day or two. Had I taken a description 
of him as he lay sprawling on the floor, I should 
have misled the world, and injured natural history. 
On the ground he appeared really a bungled com¬ 
position, and faulty at all points ; awkwardness and 
misery were depicted on his countenance; and when 
I made him advance he sighed as though in pain. 
Perhaps it was, that by seeing him thus out of his 
element as it were, that the count de Buffon, in his 
history of the sloth, asks the question — “Why 
should not some animals be created for misery, 
since, in the human species, the greatest number of 
individuals are devoted to pain from the moment of 
their existence?” Were the question put to me, I 
would answer, I cannot conceive that any of them 
are created for misery. That thousands live in 
