THE MALAY TAPIR 151 



hill jungles ; Miiller found it in Sumatra at a height 

 of 4,000 feet above the sea, thus resembling Roulin's 

 tapir of South America, which lives some 7,000 feet 

 up in the Corderillas. The Malay tapir browses on 

 bushes like the black African rhinoceros, though 

 it will also eat grass. It prefers the neighbourhood 

 of water, where it can bathe and wallow in the mud ; 

 frequenting the remoter mountain streams, it climbs 

 with remarkable ease over fallen logs and other obsta- 

 cles.' If alarmed, the animal dashes furiously into 

 the densest thickets ; Magno cedunt virgulta fragore, 

 the jungle gives way before it. When lying down, 

 this tapir is said to exactly resemble a grey boulder, 

 its magpie coat, divided into two sharply defined 

 areas, actually rendering it less conspicuous than if it 

 had been uniformly coloured. The smartly spotted 

 dress of the young ones is equally protective, since 

 the spots and streaks resemble the splashes of sun- 

 light filtered through the tangled brake. 



The Malays are great trappers of animals, and 

 take rhinoceros and tapirs alive in carefully con- 

 trived pitfalls. The rhinoceros trap — doubtless 

 similar ones are employed for tapirs — consists of a 

 small pit about six feet across and proportionately 

 deep. The sides slope gently to the bottom so as 

 not to injure the quarry in its impromptu descent; the 

 captives are wanted alive for menagerie purposes, 



1 Tlie writer has seen a captive specimen voluntarily rear up on its 

 hind legs and paw at the railing of his pen, as if seeking a foothold. 



