Tapir

“ That the tapir is a comparatively unknown animal is partly accounted for by the fact that it is but little sought after by the big-game hunter—who finds more excitement in pursuit of its larger relative the rhinoceros—and partly, perhaps, owing to its inhabiting regions comparatively little visited by Europeans. Nevertheless, the tapir is an animal of quite peculiar interest, having undergone but little change during long ages, whilst its ally the horse has {181}effected in the same time a complete transformation, not only in its general shape, but more especially in its teeth and feet. ”

“ Tapirs gallop well, and their tough hide and wedge shape enable them to go at speed through very dense cover. They try to stamp on, and even to bite, a foe, but are only clumsy fighters.
The tapir is a very archaic type of ungulate, not unlike the non- specialized beasts of the Oligocene. From some such ancestral type the highly specialized one-toed modern horse has evolved, while during the uncounted ages that saw the horse thus develop the tapir has continued substantially unchanged. ”

“ It is a gentle creature, but when attacked becomes a fierce opponent, and can wound dogs dangerously with its powerful teeth. The tapir can swim and dive with perfect ease, and abounds in the densely wooded swamps and rivers of tropical America.
Fritz in his cajack followed for a time the direction in which the tapir proceeded, but saw no more of it. Meanwhile the other two boys returned to the farm by the rice-fields, and there fell in with a flock of cranes, five or six of which they caught alive, among them two demoiselle or Numidian cranes. ”

“ Any one of several species of large odd-toed ungulates belonging to Tapirus, Elasmognathus, and allied genera. They have a long prehensile upper lip, short ears, short and stout legs, a short, thick tail, and short, close hair. They have three toes on the hind feet, and four toes on the fore feet, but the outermost toe is of little use.
The best-known species are the Indian tapir (Tapirus Indicus) , native of the East Indies and Malacca, which is black with a broad band of white around the middle, and the common American tapir (T. Americanus) , which, when adult, is dull brown. ”

“ The tapir lives on grass, and although he is harmless, the Indians are excited upon meeting one, as though they feared the animal’s strength. He can only be taken by a musket ball or arrow. Although his skin is thick, he is not very difficult to kill. In Brazil there are great numbers of these animals. The Indians say the tapirs and the mules are cousins, because their heads somewhat resemble each other when looked at full in the face. The tapir holds his head about as high as a mule; his hinder parts are more like the elephant. ”

“ The tapir is hunted by bow and arrow, or by the gun. Sometimes the ‘gravatana,’ or blow-tube, is employed, with its poisoned darts. In any case, the hunter either lies in wait for his prey, or with a pack of dogs drives it out of the underwood, and takes the chances of a ‘flying shot.’
“When the trail of a tapir has been discovered, its capture becomes easy. It is well-known to the hunter that this animal, when proceeding from its lair to the water and returning, always follows its old track until a beaten-path is made, which is easily discernible. ”

“ Slaying the tapir is no easy matter. The creature is shy; and, having the advantage of the watery clement, is often enabled to dive beyond the reach of pursuit, and thus escape by concealing itself. Among most of the native tribes of South America, the young hunter who has killed a tapir is looked upon as having achieved something to be proud of. ”

“ Though the species differ somewhat in size, the tapir is usually about the size of a small ass. The body, which in the adult is of a uniform deep brown, though the young are marked with yellowish spots and stripings, is short, stout and clumsy, with thick legs ending in four small hoofs on the fore feet and three on the hind. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When full-grown, the tapir, or anta, as it is sometimes called, is six feet in length by four in height—its weight being nearly equal to that of a small bullock. Its teeth resemble those of the horse; but instead of hoofs, its feet are toed—the fore ones having four toes, while the hind-feet have only three each. The eyes are small and lateral, while the ears are large and pointed. The skin is thick, somewhat like that of the hippopotamus, with a very thin scattering of silky hairs over it; but along the ridge of the neck, and upon the short tail, the hairs are longer and more profuse. ”

“ The tapir, danta, or gran bestia is the largest mammal of the Amazon Valley, and somewhat resembles the hog. Its snout is, however, prolonged to a small, flexible proboscis and its brown skin is covered, not with bristles but with a few silky hairs. During the daytime the tapir generally remains hidden in the cool, swampy marshes, coming out only at night to feed on roots, nuts, &c. When startled, he rushes along at great speed, his head down and perfectly regardless of trees and underbrush, through which he passes like a whirlwind. ”

“ It is a shy, timid animal, without any malice in its character; and although possessed of great strength, never uses it except for defence, and then only in endeavours to escape. It frequently suffers itself to be killed without making any defence, although with its great strength and well-furnished jaws it might do serious hurt to an enemy.
“The hunt of the tapir is one of the amusements, or rather employments, of the South-American Indians. ”

“ Man alone excepted, the most deadly foe of the American Tapir is the jaguar, as is the tiger of the Malay species. The American tapir often gets rid of the jaguar by rushing at full speed into the dense jungle, thus sweeping its assailant from its back, the jaguar's claws finding but an insecure hold on its victim's thick hide. ”

“ The American Tapir is hunted for its excessively tough hide, and also for its flesh, which, although described by Europeans as unsavoury, being coarse and dry, is considered palatable by the Indians. It is captured sometimes, although not often, by means of the lasso, an instrument so successful in Horse-catching in America, but often futile as regards the Tapir, for its usual haunts render this mode of capture most difficult, and its determined rush and immense strength frequently enable it to break the strongest lasso. ”

“ Judging from the abundance of the tracts which we here met with, the Tapir must be a very common animal in this remote and solitary part of the mountains; here they are as yet out of the reach of the hunter, who commits great havock among those which inhabit the lower woods, and there is also abundance of herbage to supply them with food. In passing through this wood, one of the blacks shot a Jacutinga (Penelope Jacutinga, Spix) , and I collected specimens of a few Orchidaceous plants, and a large yellow-flowered Senecio. ”

“ In the lower ground, the footmarks of the tapir are very frequent, especially along the small paths, where I have sometimes traced them for more than a mile. They are harmless beasts. One of our men came across one near Pena Blanca, and attacked and killed it with his knife. He brought in the head to me. It was as large as that of a bullock. I often tried to track them, but never succeeded in seeing one. One day in my eagerness to get near what I believed to be one, I rushed into rather unpleasant proximity with a jaguar, the "tigre" of the natives. ”

“ But far back in the world's history, as we know from fossils, tapirs roamed over the warm and temperate regions of Europe, and their remains have been found in China and the United States. Thus the intervening gaps existing to-day have been made by the extinction of these intermediate species.
By nature the tapir appears to be a harmless and inoffensive animal, flying even before the smallest dog. Occasionally, however, it displays great courage and ferocity, and this appears to be especially the case with females deprived of their young. ”

“ They take to the water readily, though the American swims, while the Asiatic only walk on the bottom. One book I consulted calls the tapir a kind of tiger, to which he bears hardly any resemblance.
"The other animals are small Malay bears, wild swine, horned cattle, and puny deer. The elephant and rhinoceros are found, few in number, in the north. The birds are the eagle, vulture, argus-pheasant,—a singular and beautiful bird,—peacocks, flamingoes, and swifts." ”

“ It proved to be very good eating, as did also the feet and the neck, but the flesh of the animal in general was abominably coarse and insipid, although my companions seemed to relish it greatly. I found it, like that of the manitus, exceedingly laxative.
Some idea may be formed of the tapir’s tenacity of life, when I say that I counted upward of thirty lance-thrusts in the body of the one we killed, none of which were less than six inches deep, and nearly all penetrating into the cavity of the body! It rarely happens, therefore, that the animal is killed by the individual hunter. ”

“ In the woods, and on the pampas of Chiquitos, roams the Tapir or Brazil elk, the meat of which resembles that of the ox, and is considered a delicacy by the Indians. In the forests, the fields, and about the rivers, birds abound. The wild boar pushes his way through the grass, and the American lion or jaguar leaps to fight the spotted tiger for the fatted calf. The bear and wild-cat prowl through the tangled creepers, while monkeys and parrots chatter their own peculiar idioms. The fox and armadillo inhabit the hill sides; near the river banks the turtle deposits its eggs. ”

“ It has small piggy eyes, and its most characteristic feature is a queer flexible snout prolonged some inches beyond the jaw, but apparently without the prehensile powers of the elephant's trunk. The tapir loves water, and when attacked by a jaguar will, where possible, take to a river or lake, diving and plunging. It is quite inoffensive and never attacks man, but when at bay will give ugly bites. It is very powerful, and has so thick a skin that it can force its way through the densest forest. ”

“ When the cage door was opened in the ring, the jaguar jumped over the tenfoot barricade into the audience, bounded up the nearest aisle to the top of the grandstand, leaped down, and was last seen heading for the jungle. No one was hurt, for everybody gave him plenty of room. Another much-advertised beast that is seldom seen is the tapir, a fat black grass-eater, that looks like a miniature elephant with a very short trunk. Deer are still fairly abundant, pretty little things, not much bigger than a North American jack-rabbit. ”

“ Several others species inhabit the Andes and Central America.
Tapir tiger (Zoöl.) , the wallah.
Ta"pir*oid (?) , a. [Tapir + - oid.] (Zoöl.) Allied to the tapir, or the Tapir family.
Ta"pis (?) , n. [F. See Tapestry.] Tapestry; formerly, the cover of a council table.
On, or Upon, the tapis, on the table, or under consideration; as, to lay a motion in Parliament on the tapis.
Tap"is (?) , v. t. To cover or work with figures like tapestry. [R.] Holland.
Tap"is*er (?) , n. [F. tapissier.] A maker of tapestry; an upholsterer. [R.] Chaucer.
Tap"ish (?) , v. i. [F. se tapir to squat.] ”

“ The Tapirs,165 large, heavy, and with enormously tough hides, seem to depend chiefly upon their great strength for defence. Starting in warm times in the Old World, they have wandered in their day nearly all over the globe, dying out in later times, till now one kind is left solitary in Sumatra and Malacca, and the remainder have found their way down to South America, where they tear the branches from the trees with their short movable snouts, and feed peaceably at night unless attacked, when they make a furious rush at their enemy and conquer by sheer force. ”

“ In every line of weft or filling, the shuttle must be changed every time a change of color is required by the cartoon, or colored drawing of the design from which the weaver works. He sees the face of the tapestry, if at all, only in a mirror placed in front of the loom. Tapestry weaving requires a high degree of artistic and technical skill; hand-made tapestries are costly.
Machine-made tapestries are produced on a Jacquard loom, of wool, cotton, silk, or rayon, or in mixtures of these fibers. They vary enormously in appearance and durability. ”

“ The word weaver means so little in these days that it is necessary to consider what were the conditions exacted of the weavers of tapestries in the time of tapestry’s highest perfection. A tapissier was an artist with whom a loom took place of an easel, and whose brush was a shuttle, and whose colour-medium was thread instead of paints. ”

“ And there was all manner of slighting in the weave, in the use of the comb which makes close the fabric, in the setting of the warp to make a less than usual number of threads to the inch. In fact, men tricked men as much in those days as in our own.
The fame of the city’s industry was in danger. It was the province of the guild of tapestry-makers to protect it against its own evils. Thus, in 1528, a few years after the weaving of the Raphael tapestries, the law was made that all tapestries should bear the Brussels mark and that of the weaver or the client. ”