The last of the different tribes of apes is an animal which, from the
slothfulness of its nature, and the slowness of its motions, is called
by the Guaranies, aỳ, and by the Spaniards, _la pereza_, the sloth. It
is about the size of a fox, and has a small head, a narrow face, smooth
nose, little black eyes, and long hair, of the colour of ashes, which
spreads over its neck like a mane. It has a dusky streak in the middle
of its back, long nails, bent backwards on each foot, a wide mouth, a
thick tail, weak teeth, no ears; its appearance, in short, is ridiculous
and disagreeable in every point of view. It lives upon the tops of
trees, and feeds upon their leaves, and sometimes upon the smaller kinds
of ants. It never gets up upon its feet, nor is it ever seen to drink,
perhaps content with dew. Slower than any tortoise, it so dreads the
slightest motion, that it spends a whole day in creeping up or down a
tree. It detests the least drop of rain. Every now and then it
pronounces the letter I, like a person groaning. It has a remarkably
firm skin; but its flesh is nauseated even by the Indians. From what I
have said, you may perceive that this most slothful animal is extremely
dissimilar to apes, which spend the whole day in running, leaping, and
playing, as if impatient of the shortest respite. The Indians, in
travelling, take great delight in the flesh of apes, which, in various
countries of America, is the chief and most esteemed food of the
Indians. Moreover, many of the Americans have believed apes to possess
the power of speech, and to feign themselves dumb, that they may not be
obliged to labour by the Spaniards. Whenever an ape is wounded by a
bullet, he puts his hand to the wound, as if to prevent his life from
being shed with his blood; and when the body is quite lifeless, stiff,
and cold, the hand remains in the same situation. I have found, from
experience, that their teeth are hurtful and dangerous; for my
companion, after being bitten by a mad she ape, was seized with an
erysipelas, which spread from the arm to the head, induced a great heat
and swelling, and caused terrible, and almost mortal agonies. In
European towns I have seen many apes which are not found in any part of
Paraguay; for in various countries there is a great variety of apes;
their names are also various on account of the diversity of tongues.