THE TAPIR. 



187 



To be convinced of this fact, we need only com- 

 pare the above description with that we have 

 already given of the hippopotamus. 





THE TAFJR (Tapir Americanus). 



This creature is seen occasionally on the banks of 

 the Mississippi; amid those dreary and pestilential 

 solitudes which are trodden only by the wandering 

 Indian ; where scarcely a living object meets the 

 eye, excepting when a huge alligator floats along, ap- 

 parently asleep, and basking on some aged tree, riven 

 by the whirlwind from out its native forest, and 

 holding forth its bleached branches as if imploring 

 assistance. The tapir is well fitted for the desolate 

 and uninhabitable regions through which the lonely 

 Mississippi rolls its vast volume of dark and turbid 

 waters. His gloomy and melancholy aspect, and 



