MARTIN RATTLER. 233

its hide that a bullet can scarcely penetrate it; and it
can erush its way through thickets and bushes, how-
ever dense, without receiving a scratch. Although a
very terrific animal to look at, it is fortunately of a
very peaceable and timid disposition, so that it flees
from danger, and is very quick in discovering the
presence of an enemy. Sometimes it is attacked by
the jaguar, which springs suddenly upon it and fastens
its claws in its back; but the tapir’s tough hide is not
easily torn, and he gets rid of his enemy by bouncing
into the tangled bushes and bursting through them,
so that the jaguar is very soon seraped off his back!
The tapir lives as much in the water as on the land,
and delights to wallow like a pig in muddy pools. It
is, in fact, very similar in many of its habits to the
ereat hippopotamus of Africa, but is not quite so large.
It feeds entirely on vegetables, buds, fruits, and the
tender shoots of trees, and always at night. During
the daytime it sleeps. The Indians of Brazil are fond
of its flesh, and they hunt it with spears and poisoned
ALLOWS.

But Martin knew nothing of all this, and fully ex-
pected that the dreadful creature before him would
attack and kill him; for when he observed its coarse
tough-looking hide, and thought of the slender arrows

with which he was armed, he felt that he had no