THE INDIAN TAPIR. 67 



Malay Peninsula, where it is called tannoh or tennu; 

 and is as well known in Malacca as the elephant or rhi- 

 noceros. In disposition it resembles its American rela- 

 tive. It feeds on vegetables, and is very partial to the 

 sugar-cane. Though the natives have not domesticated 

 it, this species is as easily tamed as the tapir ol" America, 

 and becomes as gentle and familiar. Major Farquhar 

 possessed one which was completely domesticated, and 

 as much at home as an}' of the dogs : it fed indiscrimi- 

 nately on all kinds of vegetables, and was veiy fond of 

 attending at table to receive bread, cakes, and the like. 

 This tapir was procured in the Malay Peninsula. (See 

 'Trans. Asiat. Soc.,' vol. xv., 1820.) A Sumatran tapir 

 was about the same time presented alive to the Asiatic 

 Society by G. J. Siddons, Esq., resident at Bencoolen. 

 It was of a lazy habit, very familiar, and delighted in 

 being rubbed or scratched ; and this favour it solicited 

 from the people about him, by throwing itself down on 

 its side, and making sundry movements. It is distinctly 

 stated of this Sumatran specimen, that another of its great 

 delights was to bathe, — also " that it remained a very 

 considerable time under water." The living specimen, 

 saj's Sir S. Raffles, sent from Bencoolen to Bengal, " was 

 allowed to roam occasionally in the park at Barrack pore. 

 The man who had the charge of it informed me that it 

 frequently entered the pond, and appeared to walk along 

 the bottom under the water, and not make any attempt to 

 swim." This characteristic habit of the animal was not 

 observed by Major Farquhar in his Malacca specimen. 

 That gentleman says, indeed, that he thought he might 

 venture to affirm that the Malacca tapir is not, like the 

 American species, amphibious in its nature. He adds, 

 that the one he reared showed rather an antipathy to 

 water, and that in the peninsula of Malacca these ani- 

 mals are found to frequent high grounds. As, however, 

 it is admitted on all sides that the Malacca and the Su- 

 matran tapirs are the same, and as these creatures differ 

 in no material points of conformation from the American 

 tapir, it is not easy to imagine that, while the American 

 animal and that from Sumatra are so aquatic in their 



