THK MONARCH GF AFRICAN WATERS. 155 



hippopotamus is among the aquatic forests at the bottoms 

 of large rivers, such as the upper Nile. It is probable 

 that, in the days of Moses, these animals abounded in 

 Lower Egypt, i believe they do not now occur in any 

 part of the Nile below the cataracts, the headquarters be- 

 ing the central and southern parts of Africa only ; but I 

 am afraid that, as civilization increases, so will the hippo- 

 potamus retreat. 



11. This huge animal spends most of its time in the 

 water, and it comes out to feed at night. Above the 

 cataracts of the Nile they are very destructive to crops, 

 as they eat an immense quantity, and trample down much 

 more than they eat. The stomach contains as much as 

 five or six bushels, and the large intestine is eight inches 

 in diameter. They do not grind their food much, but 

 rather munch it up. The reader should be curious to no- 

 tice this at the Zoological Gardens. When the old hippo 

 opens its mouth, a good-sized baby could as easily be put 

 in as one puts a letter into a letter-box. As the elephant 

 makes passes in the jungles, so it appears to me that one 

 of the chief offices of the hippopotamus is to keep in 

 check the dense vegetation in tropical climates, which, if 

 allowed to accumulate, would block up the long reaches 

 of rivers, and ultimately turn the flat lands into useless, 

 fever-breeding swamps ; so that we see that this gigantic 

 animal is of very considerable economic importance. 



12. This living machine for the destruction of fresh- 

 water vegetation is admirably adapted to its work. Nature 

 has not given him any hair, as that would be an incum- 

 brance to him, and would not well conduce to his comfort 

 when wallowing in the mud. The skin is, therefore, 

 somewhat like that of a pig. If the animal had not some 

 protection against the sudden changes of temperature, in- 

 duced by his going in and out of the water so frequently. 



