The HIPPOPOTAMUS.
This is an amphibious animal, of a gigantic bulk, inferior only to the Elephant; is found in large and rapid rivers; the Nile, the Gambia, and the great rivers on the South-Eaſt parts of Africa. The general dimenſions of this animal are reported as follows; in length about 17 feet, circumference 15, height 7, legs 3, head 3½ feet long, and 9 round; tail ſhortiſh, eyes and ears ſmall; the latter pointed, covered on the inſide with hair; the two tuſks in the lower jaw lie nearly horizontal, and meaſure about 27 inches long; their weight about 3½ pounds: theſe tuſks are highly prized by Dentiſts, for making falſe teeth, not being ſo liable to turn yellow as ivory. The ſkin thinly interſperſed with ſtrong hairs, or briſtles; is very rough, of a mud colour, and, when newly riſen out of the water, the animal has a glittering or ſlimy appearance.
This animal, unleſs inſulted, is of a quiet diſpoſition; paſſing its time in wandering up and down the rivers, which it chiefly inhabits. Fiſh, as ſome have reported, makes no part of its food; this it ſeeks at night on land, feeding on the graſs, reeds, and boughs of trees which are in the neighbourhood of its abode. "The quantity of graſs," ſays Mr. Sparman, "which I have at different times obſerved to have been conſumed by one of theſe animals, in ſpots where it has come over night to graze, is almoſt incredible." Indeed, conſidering the bulk of its body, and the great ſize of its ſtomachs (which are four), it certainly muſt require great quantity of nutriment. When in the water, the Hippopotamus frequently riſes to the top to take in air; it will ſuffer immerſion about 30 or 40 minutes. Providence, in its univerſal wiſdom, has appointed the abode of this coloſſal animal in very diſtant parts from the habitations of man, elſe its great ſtrength and revengeful nature muſt produce much miſchief; of its ſtrength, it has the credit of being able, with eaſe, to bite a man in two; and of its revengeful nature, it has been known to place itſelf under a boat, and by riſing up, overſet it with ſix men in. Moore, in his travels up the Gambia, relates a ſimilar diſaſter: A boat going down the river, fell in with a herd of theſe animals: "on being fired at," ſays the Narrator, "before the flaſhing of the pan was well out of our eyes, being in the midſt of them, one which we ſuppoſed was wounded, flounced and kicked about the boat till he knocked a piece out of the bottom; and before we could reach ſhore, ſhe ſunk right down." One of theſe animals purſued for ſeveral hours a Hottentot, who found it very difficult to make his eſcape; their activity when on land muſt not, therefore, be calculated from the unwieldineſs of their appearance. In the water they ſwim with great vigour againſt the ſtrongeſt current, and frequently ſink to the bottom, and walk as on land: they frequent ſalt water, but do not drink it; when angry, make a furious noiſe, between the grunt of a hog and the neighing of a horſe, which, probably, fixed on it the name of Hippopotamus, which is Greek, and ſignifies a river horſe; its number of ſtomachs has certainly cauſed it to be called the ſea cow.
A conſiderable portion of a ſkeleton of one was lately found in digging at Chatham, which has led a learned Gentleman to make ſome ingenious queries concerning the antiquity of the earth, the climate of this country in former times, and to conclude this animal was once a native of England. The Hippopotamus is certainly the animal which is deſcribed in ſuch a figurative, yet correct, manner in the 40th chapter of Job.
The drawing for this ſubject was taken from a ſtuffed ſkin in the Leverean Muſeum, and is regarded as a juſt figure of the animal, though not at full growth; the dimenſions were 9 feet long, and 5½ high.
