THE TAPIR 223 



under a tree, a small tapir. I called out to Epifanio to 

 get me my rifle, but in his excitement and haste he 

 slipped and fell, and made so much noise floundering 

 about in the water that the animal took fright and bolted 

 back into the forest. He came out a little higher up and 

 plunged into the rapids, where such an animal as a horse 

 or a donkey would have been drowned in a moment. I 

 could not but admire the ease with which he crossed the 

 stream, avoiding the most dangerous parts, yielding to 

 the current where he could not make any headway against 

 it, and tumbling over the falls as if he were actually enjoy- 

 ing himself, and not swimming for his life. Finally he 

 clambered up the opposite bank, and disappeared in the 

 forest. It always struck me as strange that an animal so 

 clumsy in build and apparently so unfitted for swimming 

 should be so much at home in the water. The tapir is a 

 singularly timid and harmless quadruped much preyed on 

 by the jaguar. Were it not for the safety this powerful 

 but defenceless creature can obtain by taking to the water 

 whenever it happens to be attacked by some beast of prev, 

 it is not unlikely that it would be very much rarer, if not 

 actually extinct. 



After the men had hauled the boats over the last ledsfe 

 we found that it would be necessary to drag them for some 

 distance across a stretch of shingle bristling with sharp 

 pointed rocks firmly embedded in it. At this spot there 

 was nowhere more than a foot of water, while in certain 

 places the depth was much less, being a matter of inches. 

 I pointed out to the men that it would be unsafe to 

 attempt to get the boats over so dangerous a spot without 

 lajring logs under them to prevent their being injured 

 by the rocks. I felt particularly anxious about the 

 large boat, the one that had given us so much trouble 



