BUFFON’S VIEWS 
exactly suited to its mode of life. Cut down forests and 
sloths must inevitably disappear. It is as purely 
arboreal as the whale is aquatic. But while many partly 
or wholly arboreal beasts (for example, the tree kangaroo, 
described later) are much like their immediate relatives 
which live upon the ground, the sloth is so constructed 
that it differs absolutely from its nearest allies ; its closely 
approximated and bent claws can only serve as hooks 
for suspension. Nevertheless, the sloth can progress 
upon the ground, but only with difficulty and pain. 
Waterton relates in his Wanderings, that he kept a tame 
sloth ; but, indeed, the term tame as applied to perhaps 
the most peaceful even among vegetarian creatures, 
seems unnecessary. And upon this sloth he made obser- 
vations as to its walking powers. The melancholy, and at 
the same time slightly comic, aspect of the sloth, incited 
M. de Buffon to the following singular series of remarks 
in his natural history. ‘The life of the sloth being res- 
tricted, and its general circumstance untoward, the visage 
of the animal has retained their impress ; for “ all these 
circumstances announce their wretchedness and call to 
our mind those imperfect sketches of Nature, which, 
having scarcely the power of existence, only remained a 
short time in the world, and were then effaced from the 
list of beings.” It was further the great French natura- 
list’s opinion that some animals, like some men, seem to 
be created only for sadness. De Buffon had to write 
with a vigilant and aggressive clergy in his mind and 
was compelled to adopt these somewhat hypocritical 
sentiments. But in spite of this, which was at the time 
the orthodox view of the animal creation, the sloth is by 
no means an animal to be pitied. No creature that is 
perfectly in accord and harmony with surrounding 
nature, inanimate as well as animate, can be distressful. 
The visitor to the Zoo will note at once two distinct 
features about the sloth ; firstly, its close and shaggy 
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