642 
VERTEBRATA. 
width of the space between the right and left legs causes the animal to place its feet so consider- 
ably apart as to make a distinct double track. This enterprising hunter had various adventures 
with these huge animals. In one instance, as he tells us, he wounded a sea-cow in a river, where- 
upon he rushed into the water, seized her by the tail, and cut a slit in the hide, upon the rump. 
Holding on to this, he forced her to the bank. He then ran a rope through the slit, and moored 
lier fast to a tree, and then dispatched her. 
It may be remarked that the hippopotamus, as well indeed as the elephant and rhinoceros, is 
fast disappearing in all the countries where it exists, before the incessant and destructive war 
made upon it by fire-arms. It could resist, and for ages did resist, the rude and ineffective weap- 
ons of savages and barbarians, living and multiplying in spite of them ; but the species must 
soon yield to the destructive propensity and power of civilized men. 
THE TAPIR. 
THE TAPIRID^. 
In this family the nose is produced into a short proboscis, and the skin is covered with hair. 
The skull is of a pyramidal form, somewhat like that of a pig ; but the nasal bones are much 
arched, to give support to the muscles of the proboscis. The jaws are fully furnished with teeth ; 
there are six incisors and two small canines in each jaw ; the upper jaw has seven and the lower 
six molars on each side. The ears are small, upright, and of much the same form as in the pig ; 
the neck is high, and furnished with a sort of stiff mane ; the skin is clothed with short close 
hair; the tail is very short; and the fore-feet are furnished with four and the hinder with three 
toes, all distinctly separated, and terminated by nail-like hoofs. In their form these animals re- 
semble both the horse and the ass; and thence are called by the natives wild mules, and sometimes 
sea-horses. They live in the moist tropical forests, generally sleeping during the day in the 
thickets, and wandering forth chiefly at night to feed on grass and other vegetable substances. 
They are also fond of the water, and swim well. 
Genus TAPIR : tapirus. — Of this, the only genus, there are several species. The best known 
is the Common American Tapir, T. Americanus, which occurs in all parts of South America, 
from the Isthmus of Panama almost to the southern extremity of that continent. It is a large 
animal, measuring six feet in length, and is of a uniform brown color. It inhabits the forests, 
always in the neighborhood of water, in which it delights to bathe, frequently rolling in the mud 
like a pig. In districts unfrequented by man it is said to move about in the daytime; but in 
the neighborhood of human habitations it is more cautious, and rarely leaves its resting-place 
