Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/70

 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 prolonged so as to resemble the stridulation of a grasshopper. The sloth was of the kind called by Cuvier Bradypus tridactylus, which is clothed with shaggy gray hair. The natives call it, in the Tupí language, Aï ybyreté (in Portuguese, Preguiça da terra firme), or sloth of the mainland, to distinguish it from the Bradypus infuscatus, which has a long, black and tawny stripe between the shoulders, and is called Aï Ygapó (Preguiça 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 Embaüba" (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