THE BEHEMOTH. 119 



moth ; and the two evidently appear to he presented as compan- 

 ions ; to be reserved as fellows and associates.' Mr. Taylor then 

 proceeds to enquire what were the creatures most likely to be 

 cornpanionized and associated in early ages, and in countries bor- 

 dering on Egypt, where the scene of this poem is placed ; and from 

 the ' Antiquities of Herculaneum,' the ' Prrenestine Pavement,' and 

 the famous 'Statue of the Nile,' he shows these to have been the 

 CROCODILE now generally admitted to be the leviathan, and ^the 

 HIPPOPOTAMUS, or river-horse. 



'After these authorities,' he remarks, ' I think we may without 

 hesitation, conclude, that this association was not rare or uncom- 

 mon, but that it really was the customary manner of thinking, and 

 consequently, of speaking, in ancient times, and in the countries 

 where these creatures were native ; we may add, that being well 

 known in Egypt, and being, in some degree, popular objects of 

 Egy plain pride, distinguishing natives of that country, for their 

 magnitude and character, they could not escape the notice of any 

 curious naturalist, or writer on natural history; so, that to suppose 

 they were omitted in this part of the book of Job, would be to sup- 

 pose a blemish in the book, implying a deficiency in the author : 

 and if they are inserted, no other description can be that of the hip- 

 popotamus.' 



Aristotle represents the hippopotamus to be of the size of an ass; 

 Herodotus affirms that in stature he is equal to the largest ox ; Di- 

 odorus makes his height not less than five cubits, or above seven 

 feet and a half; and Tatius calls him, on account of his prodigious 

 strength, the Egyptain elephant. Captain Beaver thus describes 

 one which he met with in Western Africa : * The animal was not 

 swimming, but standing in the channel, in, I suppose, about five 

 feet water : the body immerged, and the head just above it. It looked 

 steadfastly at the boat till we were within ahout twenty yards of it, 

 when I lodged a ball half way between its eyes and nostrils : it im- 

 mediately tumbled down, but instantly rose again, snorted, and walk- 

 ed into shallower water, where I had an opportunity of seeing its 

 whole body, and than discovered that it was an hippopotamus. It 

 afterwards advanced a little towards the boat, then towards the 

 shore, and turned entirely round, once or twice, as if at a loss what 

 to do, plunging violently the whole time. At last it walked into 

 deeper water, and then dived : we watched its rising, and then pur- 

 sued it ; and this we did for near three hours, when, at length it 

 landed on a narrow neck of sand, and walked over it into fifteen or 

 sixteen fathoms of water. We then gave up the pursuit, having 

 never been able to get a second shot at it. The longest time it was 

 under water during the pursuit, was twenty minutes, but immedi- 

 ately after being wounded it rose every three or four minutes. Its 

 body appeared to be somewhut larger than that of the largest buf- 

 faloe, with shorter but much thicker legs ; a head much resembling 

 a horse's, but longer ; large projecting eyes ; open and wide distend- 

 ed nostrils ; short erect ears, like a cropt horse when it pricks them 



