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A NEW HISTORY OF 



(to use the expression) and the forefeet themselves 

 placed on their outward sides ; a position entirely- 

 different from that of any other known quadruped : 

 nevertheless, quite adapted to the habits of the 

 animal in question. 



I beg to offer here, two anecdotes, which will 

 shew how cautious one ought to be in giving full 

 credit to statements apparently well founded, and 

 believed by the public in general. 



The South American quadruped named tapir, 

 is considered the largest wild animal in the forests 

 of Guiana. It is called Maipourie by the native 

 Indians ; and as it resembles a dwarf cow some- 

 what in shape, when viewed from a distance, the 

 Dutch planters have given it the name of bosch, or 

 bush-cow. 



In the year 1807, some thirty miles up the 

 beautiful river Demerara, in north latitude about 

 six degrees, there lived an elderly Dutch settler, 

 whose name was Laing. 



He was one of those farming-looking gentlemen 

 who sauntered up and down his sylvan domain, 

 with a long pipe in his mouth, and with a straw 

 hat on his head, broad enough to serve both 

 himself and his wife, by way of an umbrella, in 

 the blazing heat of an equatorial sun. 



Mynheer Laing had stubbed the surrounding 



