Haüt, beste qui vit de vent. · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Haüt, beste qui vit de vent.
Subject: Indigenous peoples – Brazil; Tupi; Tupinamba; Animals; Sloths; Village communities
Period: 1550-1600;
Geographic: Brazil; South America; Paris; France
Description: A large animal (the fictional representation of a sloth) stands on the ground, tied to a nearby tree by a rope around its neck. The animal has a bear-like body and a humanoid face, with three toes tipped with large claws on each foot. Two more of the creatures cling to a tree in the background and an Indigenous man aims a bow and arrow towards them. Two Indigenous children stand in front of the tethered sloth and a mother and child sit on the ground near the animal. According to the text, the name of the creatures, Haüt, or Haüthi, comes from the Indigenous name for the trees the sloths were commonly found in. Thevet calls them “beasts that live on air” because no one had managed to observe them eating. This image is identical to one found on page 941 of Paris, 1575 (l’Huillier).
Image Creator: Unknown (Woodcutter); Guillaume Chaudière (Printer)
Type: StillImage; Woodcut
Identifier: mta:23549
Language: fre
Source Name: La Cosmographie Vniverselle d’André Thevet Cosmographe du Roy
Parent Collection: 1575 Paris; 1575 Paris
Image: mta_23549_OBJ.png
Collection: European Illustrations of Native Americans
Subject: Indigenous peoples – Brazil; Tupi; Tupinamba; Animals; Sloths; Village communities