CHAP. XXIV.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

be appopotamus is an animal as large and not less formidable than the rhinois legs are shorter, and its head rather more bulky than that of the anias described. We have had but few opportunities in Europe of examining rack 1dable creature minutely; its dimensions, however, have been pretty wed certamed by a description given us by Zerenghi, an Italian surgeon, who procured one of them to be killed on the banks of the river Nile. By his ac

count, it appears that this terrible animal, which chiefly resides in the waters of that river, is above seventeen feet long from the extremity of the snout to the insertion of the tail; above sixteen feet in circumference round the body, and above seven feet high: the head is near four feet long and above nine feet in circumference. The jaws open about two feet wide, and the cutting-teeth, of which it has four in each jaw, are above a foot long.*

Its feet in some measure resemble those of the elephant, and are divided into four parts. The tail is short, flat, and pointed; the hide is amazingly thick, and

SIZE OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.-The head of a hippopotamus has recently been brought to England, with all the flesh about it, in a high state of preservation. This amphibious animal was harpooned while in combat with a crocodile, in a lake in the interior of Africa. The head measures near four feet long and et in circumference: the jaws open Je, and the cutting-teeth, of which each jaw, are above a foot long es in circumference. Its ears than a terrier's, and are much he shape. This formidable and are. when full-grown, measures feet long from the extremity insertion of the tail, above nference round the body,

and stands above seven feet high. It runs with astonishing swiftness for its great bulk at the bottom of lakes and rivers, but not with as much ease on land. When excited, it puts forth its full strength, which is prodigious. "I have seen," says a mariner, as we find it in Dampier, "one of these animals open its jaws, and seizing a boat between its teeth, at once bite and sink it to the bottom. I

have seen it on another occasion place itself under one of our boats, and rising under it, overset it with six men who were in it, but who, however, happily received no other in jury." At one time it was not uncommon in the Nile, but now it is no where to be found in that river. except above the cataracts.-MAG. NAT. HIST.

though not capable of turning a musket-ball, is impenetrable to the blow of a sabre; the body is covered over with a few scattered hairs of a whitish colour. The whole figure of the animal is something between that of an ox and a hog, and its cry is something between the bellowing of the one and the grunting of the other.

This animal, however, though so terribly furnished for war, seems no way disposed to make use of its prodigious strength against an equal enemy; it chiefly resides at the bottom of the great rivers and lakes of Africa; the Nile, the Niger, and the Zara; there it leads an indolent kind of life, and seems seldom disposed for action, except when excited by the calls of hunger. Upon such occasions, three or four of them are often seen at the bottom of a river, near some cataract, forming a kind of line, and seizing upon such fish as are forced down by the violence of the stream. In that element they pursue their prey with great swiftness and perseverance; they swim with much force, and remain at the bottom for thirty or forty minutes without rising to take breath. They traverse the bottom of the stream, as if walking upon land, and make a terrible devastation where they find plenty of prey. But it often happens that this animal's fishy food is not supplied in sufficient abundance; it is then forced to come upon land, where it is an awkward and unwieldy stranger: it moves but slowly, and, as it seldom forsakes the margin of the river, it sinks at every step it takes; sometimes, however, it is forced by famine up into the higher grounds, where it commits dreadful havoc among the plantations of the helpless natives, who see their possessions destroyed, without daring to resist their invader. Their chief method is by lighting fires, striking drums, and raising a cry to frighten it back to its favourite element; and as it is extremely timorous upon land, they generally succeed in their endeavours. But if they happen to wound, or otherways irritate it too closely, it then becomes formidable to all that oppose it: it overturns whatever it meets, and brings forth all its strength, which it seemed not to have discovered before that dangerous occasion. It possesses the same inoffensive disposition in its favourite element, that it is found to have upon land; it is never found to attack the mariners in their boats, as they go up or down the stream; but should they inadvertently strike against it, or otherwise disturb its repose, there is much danger of its sending them, at once, to the bottom. "I have seen," says a mariner, as we find it in Dampier, "one of these animals open its jaws, and seizing any boat between its teeth, at once bite and sink it to the bottom. I have seen it upon another occasion, place itself under one of our boats, and rising under it, overset it with six men which were in it; who, however, happily received no other injury." Such is the great strength of this animal; and from hence, probably, the imagination has been willing to match it in combat against others more fierce and equally formidable. The crocodile and shark have been said to engage with it, and yield an easy victory; but as the shark is only found at sea, and the hippopotamus never ventures beyond the mouth of fresh-water rivers, it is most probable that these engagements never occurred; it sometimes happens, indeed, that the princes of Africa amuse themselves with combats on their fresh-water lakes, between this and other formidable animals; but whether the rhinoceros or the crocodile are of this number, we have not been particularly informed. If this animal be attacked at land, and finding itself incapable of vengeance from the swiftness of its enemy, it immediately returns to the river, where it plunges in head foremost, and after a short time rises to the surface, loudly bellowing, either to invite or intimidate the enemy; but though the negroes will venture to attack the shark, or the crocodile, in their natural element, and there destroy them, they are too well apprized of the force of the hippopotamus to engage it; this animal, therefore, continues the uncontroled master of the river, and all others fly from its approach, and become an easy prey.

As the hippopotamus lives upon fish and vegetables, so it is probable the flesh of terrestrial animals may be equally grateful: the natives of Africa assert, that it has often been found to evour children and other creatures that it was

ise upon land; yet it moves but slowly, almost every creature btw common share of swiftness, is able to escape it; and this animal, .. weido ventures from the river side, but when pressed by the neces esty col hunger, or of bringing forth its young.

the female always comes upon land to bring forth, and it is supposed that he seldom produces above one at a time; upon this occasion, these animals are particularly timorous, and dread the approach of a terrestrial enemy; the istant the parent hears the slightest noise, it dashes into the stream, and the Young one is seen to follow it with equal alacrity.

The young ones are said to be excellent eating; but the negroes, to whoms nothing that has life comes amiss, find an equal delicacy in the old. Dr. Pococke has seen their flesh sold in the shambles, like beef; and it is said, that their breast, in particular, is as delicate eating as veal. As for the rest, these animals are found in great numbers, and as they produce very fast, their flesh might supply the countries where they are found, could those barbarous regions produce more expert huntsmen; it may be remarked, however, that this creature, which was once in such plenty at the mouth of the Nile, is now wholly unknown in Lower Egypt, and is no where to be found in that river, except above the cataracts.

CHAP. XXV.

THE CAMELOPARD.

WERE we to be told of an animal so tall, that a man on horseback could with

ease ride under its belly,

without stooping, we should hardly give credit to the relation; yet of this extraordinary size is the camelopard, an animal that inhabits the deserts of Africa; and the accounts of which are so well ascertained that we cannot deny our assent to their authority. It is no easy matter to form an adequate idea of this creature's size, and the oddity of its formation. It exhibits somewhat of the slender shape of the deer, or the camel, but destitute of their symmetry, or their easy power of motion. The head somewhat resembles that of the deer, with two round horns, near a foot long, and which, it is probable, it sheds as deer are found to do; its neck resembles that of a horse; its legs and feet those of the deer, but with this extraordinary difference, that the fore legs are nearly twice as long as the hinder. As these creatures have been found eighteen feet high, and ten from the ground to the top of the shoulders, so allowing three feet for the depth of the body, seven feet remains, which is high enough to admit a man mounted upon a middle-sized horse. The hinder part, however, is much lower, that when the animal appears standing, and at rest, it has somewhat the pearance of a dog sitting, and this formation of its legs gives it an awkward a laborious motion; which, though swift, must yet be tiresome. For this ason the camelopard is an animal very rarely found, and only finds refuge in the most internal desert regions of Africa. The dimensions of a young one, as

they were accurately taken by a person who examined its skin, that was brought from the Cape of Good Hope, were found to be as follow: the length of the head was one foot eight inches; the height of the fore leg, from the ground to the top of the shoulder, was ten feet; from the shoulder to the top of the head, was seven; the height of the hind leg was eight feet five inches; and from the top of the shoulder to the insertion of the tail, was just seven feet long.

No animal, either from its disposition, or its formation, seems less fitted for a state of natural hostility; its horns are blunt, and even knobbed at the ends; its teeth are made entirely for vegetable pasture; its skin is beautifully speckled with white spots upon a brownish ground; it is timorous and harmless, and notwithstanding its great size, rather flies from, than resists the slightest enemy; it partakes very much of the nature of the camel, which it so nearly resembles; it lives entirely upon vegetables, and when grazing, is obliged to spread its fore legs very wide, in order to reach its pasture; its motion is a kind of pace, two legs on each side moving at the same time, whereas in other animals they move transversely. It often lies down with its belly to the earth, and, like the camel, has a callous substance upon its breast, which, when reposed, defends it from injury. This animal was known to the ancients, but has been very rarely seen in Europe. One of them was sent from the East to

the emperor of Germany, in the year 1559, but they have often been seen tame at Grand Cairo in Egypt; and I am told there are two there at present. When