186 THE TAPIR. 



And to the herds, deep slumbers;' and sweet dews 



To the red roses and the herbs, doth find 



No eye, save thine, a watcher in her halls. 



I hear thee oft at midnight, when the thrush 



And the green roving linnet are at rest, 



And the blithe twittering swallows have long ceased 



Their noisy note, and folded up their wings. 



M. LELLAN. 



The Tapir, with the exception, perhaps, of the 

 recently-discovered Equus Msulcus of Molina, is 

 the largest animal in the New World. Instead of 

 the magnificent quadrupeds of Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa; instead of the elephant and rhinoceros, the 

 hippopotamus, the camelopard and the camel, we ob- 

 serve on the plains and in the forests of America, ani- 

 mals on a smaller scale. They are not less perfect 

 of their kind, nor less capable of being rendered 

 useful, though apparently less energetic. 



The Tapir is about the size of a small cow, of 

 gloomy, or rather melancholy aspect, and yet per- 

 fectly inoffensive ; he comes abroad only in the 

 night, and delights in the water, where he dwells 

 oftener than on land. He lives in marshy places, 

 and never wanders to any considerable distance from 

 the margins of lakes and rivers. When alarmed, 

 pursued, or wounded, he plunges into the stream, 

 remains a considerable time beneath the surface, 

 and always re-appears at a distance from the scene 

 of his immersion. These habits, which he has in 

 common with the hippopotamus, have induced some 

 naturalists to suppose that he belongs to the same 

 species. But the animals are as remote from each 

 other in their nature, as the countries they frequent. 



