TAPIIR. 
BufFon remarks, that this is the largest ani- 
mal of the New World ; where animated 
Nature seems to be contra6led, or rather not 
to have had time sufficient to acquire her full 
dimensions. Instead of the huge masses pro- 
duced by the ancient lands of Asia ; instead of 
the Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, 
Camelopard, and Camel, all the creatures of 
these new lands are modelled on a small scale. 
The Tapirs, the Lamas, the Pacos, and the 
Cabiais, are twenty times smaller than the ani- 
mals of the Old World to which they should 
respe6lively be compared. Here matter is not 
only used with a niggardly hand ; but even 
forms are imperfe6t, and seem to have failed or 
been negleiled. Almost the whole animals of 
South America, which alone can be regarded 
as peculiar to the New World, have neither 
tusks, horns, nor tails. Their figure is auk- 
ward ; their bodies and members are ill pro- 
portioned ; and some of them, as the Ant- 
Eaters, the Sloth, &c. are so miserably formed, 
that they have hardly the powers of moving, 
or of eating their food. With much difficulty, 
they drag out a painful and languishing life, 
in the solitudes of the desart : and cannot sub- 
sist 
