432 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



The Tapir, called Mborebi in Paraguay, is not numerous 

 in that province, and is generally found alone, or sometimes 

 in company with one other. It sleeps during day con- 

 cealed in the most sequestered and umbrageous places, and 

 goes forth at night in search of water-melons, gourds, and 

 pasture. If taken young, it may be almost immediately 

 tamed, it goes about the house, and does not seek, even 

 when adult, a greater degree of liberty; it will suffer anyone 

 to touch and caress it, without however shewing any prefer- 

 able affection for any particular person. It never bites, and 

 if annoyed, merely utters a sharp hissing noise, very dispro- 

 portioned to its size. In this domestic state, it eats flesh, 

 both raw and cooked, and is indeed omnivorous, not ex- 

 cepting even rags of silk or worsted, and will gnaw a stick 

 or cask, whence it appears to be still more gluttonous than 

 the hog, and less capable of choice of its aliment. It is 

 known to swallow a nitrous kind of earth called barrero, and 

 D' Azara found a large quantity of this earth in the stomach 

 of one. Hence, says the Spanish naturalist, it may easily 

 be concluded, that no one will bring up an animal so com- 

 pletely noxious and unprofitable, which has nothing attrac- 

 tive, and whose only good quality is of a negative descrip- 

 tion — it requires neither attention nor care. 



The female brings one-young in the month of November, 

 and has the entire care of it, without any assistance from 

 the male; even its maternal energies, however, seem not 

 very strong in defence of the young, though it is said that, 

 when hard pushed, it will kick and will also seize the dogs 

 by the spine, lift them from the ground, and by means of a 

 violent shake, will tear the skin. 



Its natural defence against the large American Felinas 

 appears to be by rushing into the thickest part of the wood, 

 through which it thrusts its body with comparative facility; 

 while the pursuer, whose skin and body is less prepared for 

 this kind of obstruction and resistance, soon becomes wea- 



