Tapir

Review bycanaryswear· 2026-11-04

It is very large, bigger than a cow. Its head is very large, the muzzle long, its ears very wide, its molars, its teeth also very large, like the teeth of us human beings. Its neck is very thick, very fleshy. Its fore [and] hind legs are very thick; its hooves like a bull’s, very large. Its dewclaws are only callosities, not of bone; its haunches are very large, its tail very thick, long, quite smooth. Its hair is everywhere completely yellow, not very long—like a deer’s hair. Its hide is very thick. This tapir is edible. But not of only one flavor is its flesh; all the various meats are in it: human flesh, wild beast flesh—deer, bird, dog, etc. This tapir is quite rare. It lives there at Atzaccan, Tepoztzotlan, Tlanquilapan, there in the great forests, among the crags which no one reaches. It eats tender shoots of tochquiquiztli and tender shoots of tlacalhuazquauitl when it finds no other food. When wild cacao grows—which no one plants—called teocacauatl and quappatlachtli, [it eats these] and maize. When it comes upon a maize field, it finishes it all. When it defecates, it heaps up [voided whole] cacao beans, almost a carrier’s load. The common folk hunt for these in the forest, in order there to find the cacao beans. It is not frightening. It cannot be slain with an arrow, even if shot with an arrow. In order to take it, they make it fall into a pit, a hole which they dig deep—three arm spans deep. Such is its depth. When they have dug it, they spread tree branches over it, they cover it with grass. And it gives way. Later the tapir falls into the pit; there they spear it, so that there it dies. Later they draw it forth with heavy ropes.