CHAPTER VI 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, OR RIVER HORSE 



But two species of hippopotamus exist, and both are 

 now confined to Africa. The Httle Liberian, or pygmy 

 hippo, Hves, as his name indicates, in West Africa, where 

 he rarely attains a height over the shoulders of more than 

 some two feet six inches, while the whole length of his 

 body does not exceed six feet. The so-called common hip- 

 popotamus is now only found in the central parts of Africa 

 — i. e., not farther north than the upper Nile, south of 

 Khartum, and not below the Orange River, although only 

 a few decades ago he was very common all over South 

 Africa. 



Van Riebeck, the Dutchman, reports having seen hip- 

 pos in 1652 in a swamp, now occupied by Church Square, 

 in the very center of the present Cape Town, and the 

 last hippo in that district was killed in 1874. In prehis- 

 toric times even these big pachyderms were distributed 

 over a much larger area, well-preserved fossils giving evi- 

 dence of their existence in lower Egypt and southern Eu- 

 rope, where exactly the same species roamed around as 

 far north as England, the river Thames being one of their 

 favorite haunts. 



The hippopotamus, or " river horse," as the name is 

 to be interpreted, forms a family all of his own. The 



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