58 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



its interior, and it is almost constantly found full of completely-digested aliment. The intestines are 

 not very large, but are very long, and the scybola resemble those of a horse. 



On this subject, Buffon says, I am obliged to contradict a part of this account of Monsieur Bajon, 

 and to affirm that the tapir is not a ruminant animal. We had lately here a tapir, which bore its 

 voyage well, and was stationed near Paris, but which happened to die not long after. Of this event 

 I had timely notice, and I requested M. Mertrud to open the animal and examine its structure. This 

 dissection was made in my presence, and instead of three stomachs as described by M. Bajon, we found 

 only one, the size of which was indeed very large, and straitened or contracted in two places, but was 

 still a single viscus, and not consisting of three distinct and separate stomachs as represented in M. 

 Bajon's account. Yet it is not astonishing that he should have fallen into this error, since one of the 

 most celebrated naturalists of Europe, Dr. Tyson, of the Royal Society of London, fell into a similar 

 error in dissecting the Peccari or Tugossu of America. This mistake, however, of Monsieur Bajon 

 does not prevent us from acknowledging that his memoir contains many excellent observations and 

 remarks. The female, he observes, is always smaller than the male, and has a weaker or less piercing 

 voice. One of the females which he dissected was six French feet in length, and appeared to have 

 produced young. Its teats were two in number, and resembled those of the ass. The tapir is far 

 from deserving the name of an amphibious animal, being continually on the surface of the ground, 

 near the sides of hills, and in dry places ; and if it occasionally frequent marshy ground, it is chiefly 

 in quest of sustenance, and because it finds there a greater quantity of vegetables than in more elevated 

 spots ; but as it daubs itself much during its wanderings in such places, it goes every morning and 

 evening in search of some river or lake, in which it may swim and wash itself. Notwithstanding its 

 clumsy appearance, the tapir swims extremely well, and dives most readily, but cannot continue longer 

 under water than any other terrestrial quadruped, and is obliged every now and then to put out its 

 trunk in order to respire. When pursued by dogs, it runs, if possible, to some river, which it crosses, 

 and thus eludes their pursuit. It does not prey on fish, its only nourishment being vegetables. 



Prom the above history of the tapir, it will sufficiently appear, that although ranked under a distinct 

 genus, the animal has in some particulars a considerable affinity to the hippopotamus. 



