The Tapir (_fig. 146._) is the largest animal in America, of that New
World, where, as we have before observed, animated Nature seems to be
lessened, or rather has not had time to arrive at its full dimensions.
In place of the colossal masses, which the ancient lands of Asia
produce; instead of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, camel, &c.
we only meet in these new countries with animals modelled upon a small
scale; the tapir, lama, pacos, and cabiais, are above twenty times
smaller than those they should be compared with in the old continent.
Matter is not only used here with prodigious parsimony, but even the
forms are imperfect, and appear to have failed or been neglected. The
animals of South America, which alone properly belong to this new
continent, are almost all without tusks, horns, and tails; their figure
is grotesque, their bodies and limbs ill proportioned, and some, as the
ant-eaters, sloth, &c. are so miserably formed, that they scarcely
have the faculties of moving or of eating; with pain they drag on a
languishing life in the solitude of a desart, and cannot subsist in
the inhabited regions, where man and powerful animals would have soon
destroyed them.
The tapir is of the size of a small cow or zebu, but without horns or
tail; his legs are short, and his body arched like that of a hog. When
young his coat is spotted like that of the stag, and afterwards becomes
of an uniform dark brown colour. His head is thick and long, with a
kind of trunk like the rhinoceros; he has ten cutting teeth, and ten
grinders, in each jaw; a character which separates him entirely from
the ox, and other ruminating animals. As we have only some skins of
this animal, and a drawing which M. de la Condamine favoured us with,
we cannot do better than refer to the descriptions given of him from
life, by Marcgrave[L] and Barrere[M], at the same time, subjoining what
travellers and historians have said concerning him.
[L] Marcgrave's Hist. Brasil.
[M] The tapir, or, as he is sometimes called, the Maipouri, is an
amphibious animal, being as much in the water as on land; he has very
short hair, interspersed with black and white hairs. _Nat. Hist. par
Barrere._
The tapir appears to be a dull and gloomy animal, who never stirs out
but in the night,[N] and delights in the water, where he oftener lives
than upon land: he chiefly lives in marshes, and seldom goes far from
the borders of rivers or lakes. When alarmed, pursued, or wounded, he
plunges into the water, and remains under it until he has passed to
a considerable distance. These customs, which he has in common with,
the hippopotamus, have made some naturalists imagine him to be of the
same species; but they differ as much from each other in nature as the
climates are distant which they inhabit. To be assured of this, there
needs no more than to compare the descriptions we have recited, with
those we have given of the hippopotamus. Although the tapir inhabits
the water, he does not feed upon fish; and although his mouth is
armed with twenty sharp and incisive teeth, he is not carnivorous.
He lives upon plants and roots, and makes no use of his weapons
against other animals. He is of a mild and timid nature, and flies
from every attack or danger. His legs are short, and his body heavy,
but, notwithstanding, he runs very swift, and swims still better than
he runs. His skin is of a very firm texture, and so bound together
that it often resists a bullet. His flesh is insipid and coarse;
nevertheless the Indians eat it. They commonly go in companies, and
are found in Brasil, Paraguay, Guiana, and in all the extent of South
America, from the extremity of Chili to New Spain.
[N] Sonnini says, that it is true the tapir goes out principally in the
night, but he is also to be met with in the day.