146 Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



venison of the bush deer, which was excellent; and as 

 much ordinary beef as we wished, and fresh milk, too — 

 a rarity in this country. There were very few mosquitoes, 

 and everything was as comfortable as possible. 



The tapir I killed was a big one. I did not wish to 

 kill another, unless, of course, it became advisable to do 

 so for food ; whereas I did wish to get some specimens of 

 the big, white-lipped peccary, the "queixa" (pronounced 

 "cashada") of the Brazilians, which would make our col- 

 lection of the big mammals of the Brazilian forests almost 

 complete. The remaining members of the party killed 

 two or three more tapirs. One was a bull, full grown but 

 very much smaller than the animal I had killed. The 

 hunters said that this was a distinct kind. The skull and 

 skin were sent back with the other specimens to the Am- 

 erican Museum, where after due examination and com- 

 parison its specific identity will be established. Tapirs are 

 solitary beasts. Two are rarely found together, except in 

 the case of a cow and its spotted and streaked calf. They 

 live in dense cover, usually lying down in the daytime and 

 at night coming out to feed, and going to the river or to 

 some lagoon to bathe and swim. From this camp Sigg 

 took Lieutenant Lyra back to Caceres to get something 

 that had been overlooked. They went in a rowboat to 

 which the motor had been attached, and at night on the 

 way back almost ran over a tapir that was swimming. 

 But in unfrequented places tapirs both feed and bathe 

 during the day. The stomach of the one I shot contained 

 big palm-nuts; they had been swallowed without enough 

 mastication to break the kernel, the outer pulp being what 

 the tapir prized. Tapirs gallop well, and their tough hide 



