68 SKETCH or THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



habits, the animal from Malacca should exhibit contrary 

 propensities. In Sumatra the tapir inhabits the dense 

 forests of the interior, and is, therefore, seldom seen : 

 hence it has been considered rare in that island : it must, 

 however, be observed, that after the loss of the ship Fame 

 by fire, when a living Sumatran tapir with other animals 

 perished, Sir S. Raffles, during the short period of his 

 stay in Sumatra, was enabled to procure other specimens, 

 one of which is in the museum of the Zoological Society, 

 and another in the museum of the East India Company. 



The Indian tapir exceeds the American in size : it has 

 no mane, and the snout is longer and more proboscis-like. 

 The most striking external difference between the east- 

 ern and western animal, however, is in colour. Instead 

 of being of the uniform dusky-bay tint of the American, 

 the Indian tapir is strangely particoloured. The head, 

 neck, fore limbs, and fore quarters are quite black : the 

 body then becomes suddenly white or grayish-white, and 

 so continues to about half way over the hind quarters, 

 when the black again commences abruptly, and is spread 

 over the legs. The abruptness and contrast of the mark- 

 ing of this animal make it look precisely as if it were 

 covered round the body with a white horse-cloth, leaving 

 the fore and hind quarters exposed. The young, until 

 the age of four months, are black, beautifully marked with 

 spots and stripes of fawn colour above, and white below. 



According to Sir S. Raffles, the Indian tapir receives 

 various names in different districts. By the people of 

 Limun it is called Saladang ; in the interior of Manna, 

 Gindol ; at Bencoolen, Babi Ala ; and at Malacca, Tennu. 

 Marsden states that it is denominated by the Malays in 

 many districts Kudaayer, or river-horse. Though the 

 flesh of the Indian tapir, like that of the American, is 

 dry and disagreeable, and therefore of little value as an 

 article of food, still the animal might be domesticated 

 with advantage (and the same observation applies to the 

 western species), and emploj'ed as a beast of draught or 

 burden, its docility and great strength being strong re- 

 commendations. Its skin would prove, from its toughness, 

 useful for various purposes. 



