ORDER PACHYDERM ATA. 433 



ried, if not injured. According to D'Azara, it does not 

 seek open paths, but breaks, thrusts aside, and tears every- 

 thing it meets with the head, which it carries very low : by 

 these means, and by an acute sight, especially in twilight, 

 and ready hearing, it avoids its natural enemies. 



The Tapir is hunted by dogs, and sometimes taken by the 

 hunter lying in ambush among the water-melons on which 

 it feeds during the night. When shot, it is observed never 

 to fall immediately, and D'Azara saw one which had re- 

 ceived two balls through the heart, run afterwards upwards 

 of two hundred paces. The Indians, whose appetite is by no 

 means delicate, eat its flesh. The Tapir is very strong, 

 and, as it is found in woods, both where the soil is dry and 

 where it is the contrary, there seems reason to conclude 

 that its habitation is indifferent, provided at least that 

 there be plenty of cover, in which it delights. It is an able 

 swimmer, but is not observed to dive : when wounded, it 

 generally takes to the water. 



The head is compressed laterally, especially on the upper 

 side, the cheeks being convex. Between the shoulders com- 

 mences a prominence, which passes gradually, increasing 

 along the neck, over the top of the head, and terminates 

 level with the eyes : this prominence is composed of a very 

 hard thick skin from the shoulders to the occiput, but the 

 rest is bony ; a very short stiff mane passes along its whole 

 length. 



The Malay Tapir, says Sir Stamford Raffles, resembles 

 in form the American, and has a similar flexible proboscis 

 six or eight inches in length. Its general appearance is 

 heavy and massive, somewhat resembling the Hog. The 

 eyes are small, the ears roundish, and bordered with white. 

 The skin is thick and firm, thinly covered with short hair: 

 there is no mane on the back, as in the American species: 

 the tail is short, and almost destitute of hair ; the legs are 

 short and stout. 



