THE T A P I R. 24 j 



much difficulty they drag out a painful and Ian- 

 guifhing life in the folitudes of the defert, and 

 cannot fubfift in inhabited regions, where man 

 and the ftronger animals would foon deftroy 

 them. 



The tapir is of the lize of a fmall cow, or 

 zebu ; but has neither horns nor tail; His legs 

 are fhoft, and his body arched. When young* 

 he is fpotted like the (tag ; and afterwards his 

 hair becomes of a uniform deep brown colour. 

 His head is large, and terminates, like that of the 

 rhinoceros, in a long trunk. He has ten cut- 

 ting teeth and an equal number of grinders in 

 each jaw, a character which feparateshim entire- 

 ly from the ox kind, and from all other rumina- 

 ting animals. As we have only forne fkiris of 

 this animal, and a drawing lent us by M. Con- 

 damine, we cannot do better than trarifcrib'e the? 

 defcriptions of him made from the life by Maro- 

 grave * and Barrere, fubjoiningj at the iamc 



O time^ 



* Tefjiereie Brafilienfikus, Lufitan \ . An a- 



drupes, maghitltdine juvenei femeftri arporis quo- 



dammodo ad porcum accedens, .capite etiarn tali, verum craf- 

 fiori, oblongo, fuperius in acumen defnaente ; promufcide 

 juper os prcminente, quam validiffimo nervo centrahere en 

 extendere poteil ; in promufcide autem funt iiilbrae oblongaej 

 inferior oris pars eft brevier fuperiore. Maxillae ambae an- 

 terius faftigiatae, et in quaiibet decern dentes i'naifores faperue 

 fctinfeme; hinc per ccrtum fpatiirm utraque m'axiMa caret 

 dentitms, fequuntur dein moiares grandes omnes, in quolibet- 

 latere quinque, ita v.t haberet viginti molares et viginti inci- 

 fores. Oeulos ha-bet parvos porcinos, uures obrotundas, ri 



