72 
DOTTING,? ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. V.—B. S. 
the tunnels they had made, it was conjectured that 
they had the shape of the guapote fish of the country, 
were about twelve yards in length, and, from impres¬ 
sions left on the wet ground, had “ scales like those of 
alligators.” Ancient tradition, the reporter adds, knows 
of several monsters of similar size in the neighbour¬ 
hood. To a man of science the account given is alto¬ 
gether unsatisfactory; hut, before consigning it to the 
lumber-room of cock-and-bull stories, the affair ought 
to he looked into more closely. We must not forget 
that on the very highway of nations, the Isthmus 
of Panama, one of the largest, if not the largest, ter¬ 
restrial animal of Tropical America (Elasmotherium 
Bairdi , Gill, or Tapirus Bairdi , J. E. Gray)* was al¬ 
lowed to roam about unknown to men of science, 
though well known to the natives, until quite recently 
Professor Gill, of Washington, drew attention to it. 
Since then the poor animal has had no peace. Both 
the Zoological Gardens in Begent’s Park and the 
British Museum have issued warrants against him. 
Captain Dow, of the steamer ‘ Guatemala,’ who has 
been the means of apprehending so many unruly 
creatures of Central America, and handing them over 
to men of science to do just as they like with, is 
again acting in this instance, and offered at the 
various Panama railway stations a reward to any one 
who may bring him the new tapir, either dead or alive. 
Passing once more Totogalpa, we took thence a due 
* There are at present, Dr. Gray informs me, four species of Tapirs 
known from America, viz. the Tapirus Americanus, T. Bairdi, the 
species from the Andes, and a fourth from Brazil. 
