TAPIR. 139 



sulphur spring ; and between eleven and one o'clock 

 we came upon the sleeping tapir. 



We were never able to get up to it before it had 

 lain down for its siesta, and we invariably disturbed 

 it before we came within sight of it. Sometimes a 

 nodding tree or waving branch showed the line of its 

 flight, but that would be all. Once we were close 

 behind it, when it plunged into the Pari river and 

 crossed to the farther bank. It would have been 

 especially interesting to have seen it then, for we 

 might have learned whether it swam or whether, as 

 the South American species is said to do, it walked 

 upon the bottom of the river-bed. How far we 

 followed the tapir after we first disturbed it would 

 depend upon many things the time, the distance, 

 the heat or the rain, and, more than all else, the 

 degree of our patience. 



Sometimes the tapir was alarmed by getting our 

 scent, and sometimes by a sound we made. Regard- 

 ing the scent, we were unable to do anything; we 

 could only follow the tracks, and as it was impossible 

 even to guess at the line the animal was taking, or 

 where it ^would lie down to sleep, it was out of the 

 question to make any detour if we found the wind 

 unfavourable. As to the sound, the difficulty was 

 not so much underfoot as in working a silent way 

 through tremendously heavy foliage. But, neverthe- 

 less, I paid every attention to my foot-gear. Malias, 

 like every Malay, was barefooted, and walked with 

 ease on a matting of prickles and thorns. I tried 

 india-rubber shoes, but found them too slippery on 

 greasy ground ; then I tried long stockings made of 



