THE VOICE OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 



HIPPOPOTAMUS 



Behemoth of the Book of Job is not, as most persons 

 believe, the African hippopotamus in spite of the fact 

 that the artist poet Blake so drew it. A recent author 

 (the Rev. M. G. Watkins) has pointed out that Behemoth 

 is clearly the same word as Mammoth, inasmuch 

 as in the Arabic language " b " and " m " are in- 

 terchangeable. Furthermore in the Book of Job 

 " Behemoth " is said to " move his tail like a cedar," 

 " he eateth grass as an ox," " he lieth in the covert of 

 the reed and fens " and lastly, " he drinketh up a river." 

 Now all these phrases of description plainly point to 

 an elephant rather than to an hippopotamus, especially 

 the last, which might at first sight refer to the river 

 horse. For the copious draughts of an elephant are 

 familiar to those who know the beast, while the aquatic 

 hippopotamus is not actually seen to drink at all. 

 Having settled what the hippopotamus is not, let us 

 inquire what it is. Linnaeus, as we have already 

 mentioned in dealing with the tapir, confused it with 

 that animal, which which it has only the remotest 

 relationship. The hippopotamus, in fact, belongs to 

 the Artiodactyle section of the Ungulates, and is near 

 to the pigs. The dwarf hippopotamus of Liberia even 

 approaches in its habits to the pig tribe ; for it eschews 

 the river and wanders about through the bush. The 

 term river pig would thus be much more suitable than 

 river horse, the name which is given to it both in Eng- 

 lish and Greek. Its voice has, it is true, been compared 

 to the " neigh " of a horse ; it appears to us much more 

 like a gruff version of the sound made by the horse's 

 poor relative. But this sound is only repeated once, a 

 deep base " Hee-haw." The outward aspect of this 

 huge " Pachyderm " is familiar even to those who 

 have never seen the beast alive. The main points to 



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