skin
of one in a museum. He is an interesting creature, for this reason--
that he is the largest land animal indigenous to South America. The
llama and guanaco stand higher, because their legs are longer, but they
are far inferior to the tapir in bulk and weight: while the bears of
South America, of which there are two or three species, are small-sized
bears, and therefore less than the tapir. In fact, no very large land
animals were found indigenous in the southern division of the American
continent. There were none of the _bovine_ tribe, as the buffalo and
musk-ox of North America; and no large deer, as the elk and moose of the
Northern latitudes. The deer of South America, of which there are
several undescribed species, are all small animals. The tapir, then, in
point of size takes precedence in the South-American _fauna_.

His rounded body gives him some resemblance to a great hog, or a donkey
with its hair shaved off; but, in fact, he is not very like either; he
is more like a _tapir_ than anything else--that is, he is a creature
_sui generis_. Perhaps, if you were to shave a large donkey, cut off
most part of his ears and tail, shorten his limbs--and, if possible,
make them stouter and clumsier--lengthen his upper jaw so that it should
protrude over the under one into a prolonged curving snout, and then
give him a coat of blackish-brown paint, you would get something not
unlike a tapir. To complete the resemblance, however, you would have to
continue the erect mane over the forehead, between the ears, and down to
the level of the eyes, which would give that crested appearance that
characterises the tapir. Instead of hoofs, moreover, you would give
your donkey large toes--four upon the fore feet, and upon the hind ones
three. A little silky hair upon the stumped tail, and a few thinly
scattered hairs of a brown colour over the body, would make the likeness
still more striking; and it would be necessary, too, that the donkey be
one of the very biggest kind to be as big as a big tapir.

The tapir is a harmless creature, and although it has a good set of
teeth, it never uses them for the purpose of defending itself. When
attacked by either men or fierce animals, it tries to escape by flight,
and if that fails, submits to be killed; but there is no "light" to be
got out of a tapir.

The tapir leads a very solitary life, being met with alone, or sometimes
in the company of the female. The latter has but o