BOTANIC GARDENS MENAGERIE. 163 



could not make out at first what it was as I knew there was 

 no granite boulder on the grass plot. 



This tapir was very docile and amusing and was a great 

 attraction, very few people even the Malays ever having seen 

 one before. It was easily trained to draw a small cart, but its 

 feet were too soft for hard roads, and it could only walk 

 comfortably on grass. When very happy it would canter and 

 curvet on the grass neighing like a pony, but its ordinary cry 

 especially if vexed was a whistle which it gave with its trunk. 

 This whistle is the alarm cry which one hears when one comes 

 across them in the forest. It had considerable climbing powers 

 and often walked upstairs. "When left alone in a room it some- 

 times got on a chair and then climbed on to a table. On one 

 occasion when it did this the table which bore on it a pot of 

 white paint, some gum, and ink, collapsed with the weight of 

 the animal who was found standing in a pool of the mixed 

 liquids and covered all over with paint, gum and ink. It was very 

 fond of bathing and used to go down to the lake and remain under 

 water for a considerable time digging in the mud with its paws. 



As it got bigger it was found necessary to keep it in an en- 

 closure as there were complaints that it alarmed horses when 

 it was feeding along the road. When shut up, or kept in a 

 stable the tapir here is very liable to pthisis, and this one did 

 not escape. Except that one or two occasions it was heard to 

 give a little cough, and that it got very lazy and also slightly 

 thinner, it showed no signs of illness. But one day it was 

 taken to have its swim in the lake which it much enjoyed and 

 was unwilling to relinquish, and after it came out of the water 

 it went to lie down under a tree as usual, and half an hour later 

 was found to be dead. At the post-mortem the lungs were 

 found to be badly diseased with pthisis, a considerable portion 

 being destroyed. Two other full sized tapirs were temporarily 

 deposited in the gardens, before shipping to Europe, and both 

 died very suddenly with evident signs of severe colic. One 

 which was opened was found to have the stomach full of some 

 bitten up sweet stuff which was almost certainly pineapple, 

 and there was little doubt that some one had given these 

 animals a quantity of pineapples which had proved fatal. 



R. A. Soc, No- 46, 1906 



