BLOOD-RED SECRETIONS 



be noticed about it, and which fix its place in the 

 zoological system, are these. It is a great thick-skinned 

 beast with but few hairs ; thickness of skin and few- 

 ness of hairs are characters which are often found 

 among the Ungulata, witness the elephant and the 

 rhinoceros. On its bulky head the eyes, ears and 

 nostrils are situate rather towards the top and at the 

 same level more or less ; this is an advantage to the 

 animal when floating in the water ; for it can breathe, 

 hear and smell with the least possible exposure of body. 

 There are four toes on each hand and foot, a point of 

 likeness to its nearest allies the pig tribe. Its teeth 

 are enormous and make good ivory. It has, moreover, 

 a very good set of them, front teeth as well as back. 

 The more typical Artiodactyles, the Ruminantia (e.g. 

 deer, oxen, antelopes), have entirely lost their upper 

 incisors, and mostly their canines. To reconcile the 

 dangerous-looking teeth with a vegetarian existence 

 requires faith in the observing powers of those who have 

 studied the hippopotamus in a wild state ; but this 

 faith may be safely reposed. The hippopotamus pro- 

 duces at times, especially after just leaving the water, 

 a remarkable secretion from the skin of a carmine 

 character, which bears at least a superficial resemblance 

 to the equally carmine secretion of the red kangaroo 

 (Macropus nifiis). This fluid contains granules of 

 the carmine-coloured pigment ; and it was first studied 

 upon the original specimen of hippopotamus acquired 

 by the Zoological Society in 1849. Its use .remains a 

 mystery ; but it is believed to have suggested to the 

 Egyptian priests their deception of the " bloody sweat." 

 In the early natural history of the hippopotamus fact 

 is mingled largely with fiction ; indeed, it might be more 

 accurate to say that fiction is lightly salted with fact. 

 Even Buffon allows that in what Aristotle said of 

 the hippopotamus there were more errors than facts. 



