244 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



the current, was a full-grown tapir, which we afterwards 

 found out to be a female. "Where she had come from 

 none of us could tell ; but she had probably been disturbed 

 by Asoque and had taken to the water for safety. To 

 have killed her where she was would have been to have 

 lost her, as the current was strong and the river deep. 

 When she got some distance beyond the boat she turned and 

 made a dash for the shore. Just as her neck and shoulders 

 were well out of the water I fired. There was a splashing 

 and floundering for a few seconds. Then she managed 

 to scramble up the steep bank, and as she bounded into 

 the bushes I fired again. She fell, and we heard her 

 struggling on the groimd, but by the time two of the 

 men clambered up after her she had galloped away into the 

 forest. ' The Pirate ' landed with his dogs and they were 

 soon in hot pursuit. I felt certain that she would take to 

 the water again, as the tapir invariably does when hard 

 pressed. She came out a good distance ahead of us, but 

 as the stream is almost straight for a long way at this 

 part, we were able to keep her in sight while she swam 

 across, but we did not get near enough to fire, nor did we 

 succeed in heading her off. In the long swim the tapir 

 had across the river she had out-distanced the dogs, so 

 we picked them up and, paddling to the spot where she 

 had landed, we placed them on the fresh trail. In a very 

 short time they bayed furiously, and we knew that they 

 had come up with the wounded animal, now unable to go 

 far. When she took to the water some distance below us 

 we could see that she was being closely pressed by the 

 dogs. She did not attempt to cross the stream but kept 

 near to the bank, h^re densely wooded. Meoro, a big 

 tawny nondescript mongrel of poor scent, but a very devil 

 to hunt by sight, kept close to her head, biting at her 



