OUR LAST TAPIR 245 



ears. It was plain that she would not be able to go very 

 far, so the men made a final spurt to head her off and kill 

 her close to the shore. The terrified brute now saw the 

 boat, and, shaking the dogs off, turned into a small creek, 

 diving as she reached its mouth. It was the work of a 

 few moments to get to the creek, only to find that there 

 was no tapir, and to meet the dogs swimming aimlessly 

 about, evidently puzzled as to vfhat had become of the 

 animal they had been following. Where had the creature 

 gone to ? Had she died below, or, rising beneath the 

 bushes, had she eluded the dogs and got into the forest '? 

 Suddenly Epifanio, forgetting in his excitement all respect, 

 clutched my arm and whispered in my ear, 'Andre, la 

 Danta.' Close to the steep bank, hidden by drooping 

 leaves, was the large uncouth head of the animal we were 

 looking for, so motionless that it might have been a rock 

 sticking out of the earth. Finding her strength fail, she 

 had tried stratagem and had very nearly outwitted us. A 

 moment after she was dead and we soon had her on the 

 rocks. While the men were sharpening their knives, 

 Jacobson was adding her to his collection of sporting 

 pictures. He was more than usually careful. He did not 

 let the carcase lie in the undignified position the men 

 generally chose for the dead bodies of the animals he 

 wanted to immortalise. In this case the old artist in- 

 sisted on having her placed according to his own ideas, 

 while he himself put a stone to keep her head steady. 

 All this he did as a tribute to her pluck. When he moved 

 away with his camera I thought I heard him murmur, 

 * After Landseer.' 



The tapir we had killed was big with young. I was 

 quite struck with the colour of this unborn animal, so 

 different from that of the parent. The skin of the adult 



