I 4 



348 MAMMALIA. BELLUiE, Tapir. 



The Hippopotamus is almoft as large as an Elephant, being- fometimes feven- feet high, feventeen 

 feet long, and weighing from four to five thoufand pounds, fo that twelve oxen have been found ne- 

 ceffary to drag afhore the carcafe of one that had been foot in a river near the Cape. Dr Gmelin 

 compares the body and general-appearance to an Ox, the. feet to a Bear, the toughnefs and thicknefs 

 of fkin to a Rhinoceros, the tufks, tail, hinder part of the body, and mode of living, to a Hog. The 

 head is enormoufly large, with a very wide mouth ; the ears are fmall and pointed, with a border of 

 fhort fine hairs ; the eyes and noftrils are very finally, the lips have feveral tufts of ftrong coarfe 

 hairs ; the tufks are fometimes twenty-feven inches long, and near feven pound weight each ; thefe 

 and the grinders are very white, much harder than ivory, infomuch that fome authors fay they will 

 ftrike fire with fteel, .and, from having . the property -of preferving their colour without growing 

 yellow, they are, much efteemed among dentifts for making falfe- teeth ; . of the grinders there are fix 

 on each fide above and eight below. The fkin is of. a dark colour and almoft naked, having only a 

 few fcattered, and fcarcely decernible, white hairs, which ftand a little thicker on the neck, but with- 

 .out forming any mane ; the fkin is fo thick and tough as to refift -a bullet when dry, and is ufed. by 

 the inhabitants of Africa for. making fhields. The tail is about, a foot long, and almoft a foot in cir- 

 cumference at the origin, naked, tapering to a point, and - flattened. The Jegs are extremely thick, 

 and very, fhort in proportion, and the lobes of the feet have no connecting membrane. The flefli is 

 by fome authors faid to be delicious, while others reprefent it as very dry and of difficult digeftion, 

 while the fat, of which a full grown animal is faid to yield about two thoufand pounds, is efteemed 

 excellent, and is recommended as a fovereign remedy for pulmonary difeafes, on which account it is 

 .ialted and fent to the Cape, where it fells at a dear rate. 



XLIII. T A P 1 R.— 42. TA P /R. 



Has ten fore-teeth in each jaw, and no tufks. The fore feet 

 have each four, and the hind feet three hoofs. 



Of this genus there is only one fpecies, which is entirely confined to South America, and there- 

 fore was. unknown to the ancients. 



I. American Tapir.- — 1. 'Tapir atmricanus. 

 Has a'long extenfile and flexible probofcis or fnout. BrhT. regn. an. 119. 



Tapir. Sm. Buff. vi. 243. pi. clxxxi. — Long-nofed Tapir. Perm. hift. of quad. n. 69. — Tapi- 

 h-ires. Thevet. cofm. ii. 937. b. — Tapiirete. Marcgr. braf. 229. Pif. ind. 101. Raj. quad. 126. 



Klein, quad. 36. — Tapirouffou. Lery, voy. 154- — Beori. Laet, amer. 328 Danta. Nieremb. hill. 



nat. 187. Jonft. quad. 216. Chieza, peru. 20. — Antes. Nieuhof, braf. in Har. voy. ii. 23. — Anta. 

 Marcgr. et Pifo, loc. fup. cit. Gumil. oron. i. 300. — Elan, Elk, -or Vagra. Condam. voy. 163. — 

 Maipouri, or Manipouri. Barrere, fr. equ. 160. — Hippopotamus terreftris. Syft. nat. ed. x. 74. 

 n. 2. — Sus aquaticus multifulcus. Barrere, fr. equ. 160. Fermin, furin. ii. 80. — Hydrochaerus Ta- 

 pir. Erxl. mam. 191. n. 1. — Wafferfchwein. Knorr. del. ii. t. k. 13. — Mountain Cow, Dampier, 

 voy. ii. 102 — Elephant hog. Yv r afer, in Damp. voy. iii. 400 — Species of Hippopotamus, or River- 

 horfe. Bancroft, guian. 127. 



Inhabit? 



