LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



61 



sonous dart, inflicting a sure and mortal wound. 

 The bones and old teeth of sea-cows, which lay 

 rotting along the bank of the river here, evinced 

 the success of this dangerous invention. P. 197. 



But we must unwillingly leave this fascinating 

 journal, penned amid the wildest, grandest, and 

 most stirring scenes that ever blessed or shocked 

 a wild hunter's vision, to return to the private 

 history of our obese, tame, but most amusing 

 baby. Its capture, in fulfilment of the nod of the 

 friendly autocrat who presented it, was effected at 

 the commencement of August, in the bygone year, 

 up the Nile, nearly two thousand miles from Cairo, 

 when its bulk was about that of a newly-dropped 

 calf, but its proportions were much stouter, and 

 its height much lower. Its unfortunate mother 

 was mortally wounded, and her attempt to return 

 towards some bushes growing thickly on the river's 

 bank, instead of taking as usual to the water, at- 

 tracted the notice of the hunters, who found the 

 calf there among the rank grass. It slipped 

 through their fingers, however, and instantly made 

 for the river, which it would have gained, if one 

 of the party had not struck the boathook into its 

 flank, gaffing it as an angler would a large fish. 

 The mark of this wound it still bears, as above- 

 mentioned. 



It soon became much attached to those who had 

 the care of it, treating them as standing in loco 

 parentis, and looking to them for the supply of its 

 wants. On its passage in the Ripon steam-ship, 

 whence it was landed at Southampton on the 

 morning of the 25th of May, its keeper's hammock 

 was slung over its berth, as I was told. The 

 poor man must have had but a disturbed time of 

 it, for his fond charge could not bear his absence 

 without showing anxiety bordering on distress, 

 and at night, as I was informed, would knock up, 

 ever and anon, with his chowder head, as Jack 

 would call it, at the overhanging hammock, to 

 ascertain whether his sable friend was there. 



The strong attachment of the animal to its keep- 

 er, (writes Professor Owen, in the narrative to 

 which we have already referred,) removed every 

 difficulty in its various transfers from ship to train, 

 and from wagon to its actual abode. On arriving 

 at the gardens, the Arab who had the charge of it 

 walked first out of the transport van, with a bag 

 of dates over his shoulder, and the beast trotted 

 after him, now and then lifting up its huge, gro- 

 tesque muzzle, and sniffing at its favorite dainties, 

 with which it was duly rewarded on entering its 

 apartment. When I saw the hippopotamus the 

 next morning, it was lying on its side in the straw, 

 with its head resting against the chair on which its 

 swarthy attendant sat ; it now and then uttered a 

 soft complacent grunt, and lazily opening its thick, 

 smooth eyelids, leered at its keeper. 



After lying quietly about an hour, now and then 

 raising its head and swiveling its eyeballs towards 

 the keeper, or playfully opening its huge mouth 

 and threatening to bite the leg of the chair on 

 which its keeper sat, the hippopotamus rose and 

 walked slowly about its room, and then uttered a 

 loud and short harsh note, four or five times in 

 quick succession, reminding one of the snort of a 

 horse, and ending with an explosive sound like a 



bark. The keeper understood the language, and 

 told us that the animal was expressing its desire to 

 return to its bath. The beast at this time was in 

 one of the compartments of the wing of the giraffe 

 house, on the opposite side to that in which its 

 bath is prepared. It carries its head rather de- 

 pressed, and reminded me most of a huge prize 

 hog, but with a breadth of muzzle and other feat- 

 ures peculiarly its own. The keeper opened the 

 door leading into the giraffe's paddock, and walked 

 through that to the new wing containing the bath, 

 the hippopotamus following like a dog close to his 

 heels. On arriving at the bath-room, the animal 

 descended with some deliberation the flight of low 

 steps leading into the water, stooped and drank a 

 little, dipped his head under, and then plunged for- 

 wards. It was no sooner in its favorite element 

 than its whole aspect changed, and it seemed in- 

 spired with new life and activity ; sinking down to 

 the bottom, and moving about submerged for 

 awhile, it would suddenly rise with a bound almost 

 bodily out of the water, and splashing back, com- 

 menced swimming and plunging about with a ceta- 

 ceous or porpoise-like rolling from side to side, 

 taking in mouthsfull of water and spurting them 

 out again, raising every now and then its huge 

 grotesque head, and biting the woodwork at the 

 margin of the bath. The broad, round back of the 

 animal being now chiefly in view, it looks a much 

 larger animal than when out of the water. After 

 half-an-hour spent in this amusement, it quitted the 

 water at the call of its keeper, and followed him 

 back to the sleeping-room, which is well bedded 

 with straw, and where a stuffed sack is provided 

 for its pillow, of which the animal, having a very 

 short neck, thicker than the head, duly avails itself 

 when it sleeps. 



I was told that when it was at Cairo it ate a 

 good deal of clay ; and the Arabs, it seems, have 

 expressed a desire that it should have some here. 

 I believe that it is perfectly safe in the hands of 

 Mr. Mitchell; and if it should be thought fit to 

 indulge it with clay, those whom its odd ways 

 delight may rest secure that Mr. Mitchell will not' 

 let Hippo be bricked up with our London clay; 

 but if clay must be given, will prescribe some of 

 the mud of the Colne or Thames, wherein the 

 water-lilies grow so luxuriantly. In the stomachs 

 of the young hippopotamus opened by Sparrman, 

 there was a good deal of "dirt," with curd and' 

 leaves quite fresh ; and it is not improbable that 

 this V dirt" may be required by the animal to cor- 

 rect the acidity arising from its diet, as calves lick 

 chalk. In scooping up the water-plants from the 

 bottoms of rivers and their banks with the enor- 

 mous dental apparatus of the lower jaw, a consid- 

 erable quantity of the soil must be taken up, and 

 that some of it finds its way to the stomach is ev- 

 ident from Sparrman's evidence. 



Two of his attendants, Jabar Abou Haijab and 

 Mohammed Abou Merwan these, as far as I can- 

 make them out, are their names are snake- 

 charmers, of whom and of whose performance I 

 shall have something to say hereafter. The for- 

 mer, an old man, was employed by the French 

 savans in Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition, and 

 collected reptiles for Geoffrey ; the latter Arab, 

 who appears to be some fifteen years of age, and 



