THE TAPIR, 207 
The trunk and the skin around the eye are also enumerated as delicacies, 
but have been compared by one who has had practical experience as 
bearing a close resemblance to shoe-leather both in toughness and evil flavour. 
The natives employ many methods of capturing Elephants, the pitfall 
being the most deadly. Even this insidious snare is often rendered useless 
by the sagacity of the crafty old leaders of the herds, who precede their little 
troops to the water, as they advance by night to drink, and carefully beating 
the ground with their trunks as they proceed, unmask the pitfalls that have 
been dug in their course. They then tear away the covers of the pits and 
render them harmless. These pits are terrible affairs when an animal gets 
into them, for a sharp stake is set perpendicularly at the bottom, so that the 
poor Elephant is transfixed by its own weight, and dies miserably. Each pit 
is about eight feet long by four in width. 
The ivory of the African Elephant is extremely valuable, and vast quantities 
_are imported annually into this country. The slaughter of an Elephant is 
therefore a matter of congratulation to the white hunter, who knows that he can 
obtain a good price for the tusks and teeth of the animal which he has slain. 
A pair of tusks weighing about a hundred and fifty pounds will fetch nearly 
forty pounds when sold, so that the produce of a successful chase is extremely 
valuable. One officer contrived to purchase every step in the army by the 
sale of the ivory which he had thus obtained. On an average, each pair of 
tusks, taking the small with the great, will weigh about a hundred and 
twenty pounds. 
ONE of the links which unite the elephants to the swine and rhinoceros is 
to be found in the genus Zufirus. The animals which belong to this genus 
are remarkable for the prolonged upper lip, which is formed into a kind of 
small proboscis, not unlike that of the elephant, but upon a smaller scale, 
and devoid of the finger-like appendage at the extremity. Only two species 
are at present existing. 
The common or-American TAPIR, sometimes called the Mbérebi, is a 
native of tropical America, where it is found in great numbers, inhabiting the 
densely wooded regions that fringe the banks of rivers. It is a great water- 
lover, and can swim or dive 
with perfect ease. The 
tough, thick hide with which 
the Tapir is covered is of 
great service in enabling 
the animal to pursue its 
headlong course through 
the forest without suffering 
injury from the branches. 
When it runs, it carries its 
head very low, as does the 
wild boar under similar cir- 
cumstances. 
The colour of the adult 
Tapir is a uniform brown, 
but the young is beautifully 
variegated with yellowish 
fawn spots and stripes upon 
a rich brown black ground, = xya-avER, OR MALAYAN TAPIR.—(Zagérus 
reminding the observer of Malaydnus.) 
the peculiar tinting of the 
Hood’s marmot. The neck is adorned with a short and erect black mane, 
The. Tapir can easily be brought under the subjection of man, and is: 
