122 THE TAPIR. 



by the back, and shakes them so vigorously that he 

 lacerates their skin. 



It sometimes happens at daybreak that hunters 

 on horseback encounter a tapir belated in the open 

 country. The lasso soon stops him in his course, 

 and his fate is sealed ; for although he is much 

 swifter than at first sight he seems, he cannot for 

 any length of time compete in speed with a horse. 



D'Azara says that the Indians of Paraguay eat 

 the flesh of the tapir ; but he adds, that by no means 

 proves that it is delicate; and Barren, in his " Histoire 

 Naturelle cle la France Eqwinoxialc," writes, "His 

 flesh is coarse and of a disagreeable taste." "We have 

 changed all that. 



" The flesh of the tapir," says M. Chabrillac, " is 

 much esteemed in the country where I have had 

 occasion to eat it very often, and I can assert that 

 it yields in nothing, both for savour and nutritive 

 qualities, to the best meat we have in Europe. When 

 smoked, it keeps a long time, and acquires a flavour 

 which would be appreciated by our most delicate 

 gourmets." 



M. Victor Bataille writes from Guyana : " I have 

 often eaten the flesh of this animal. Without being 

 delicate and of the first quality, it is good, and has 

 nothing disagreeable to the taste. 



"It has also, since 1818, taken a very important 



