428 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



they swim with much force, and remain at 

 the bottom for thirty or forty minutes, with- 

 out rising to take breath. Tiiey traverse the 

 bottom of the stream, as if walking upon laud, 

 and make a terrible devastation where they 

 find plenty of prey. But it often happens, 

 that this animal's fishy Ibod is not supplied in 

 sufficient abundance; it is then forced to 

 come upon land, where it is an awkward and 

 unwieldy stranger ; it moves but slowly, and 

 as it seldom forsakes the margin of the river, 

 it sinks at every step it takes ; sometimes, 

 however, it is forced by famine up into the 

 higher grounds, where it commits dreadful 

 havoc among the plantations of the helpless 

 natives, who see their possessions destroyed, 

 without daring to resist their invader. Their 

 chief method is by lighting fires, striking 

 drums, and raising a cry to frighten it back 

 to its favourite element; and as it is extreme- 

 ly timorous upon land, they generally succeed 

 in their endeavours. But if they happen to 

 wound, or otherwise irritate it too closely, it 

 then becomes formidable to all that oppose 

 it: it overturns whatever it meets, and brings 

 forth all its strength, which it seemed not to 

 have discovered before that dangerous occa- 

 sion. It possesses the same inoffensive dis- 

 position in its favourite element, that it is 

 Found to have upon land ; it is never found to 

 attack the mariners in their boats as they go 

 up or down the stream ; but should they 

 inadvertently strike against it, or otherwise 

 disturb its repose, there is much danger of 

 its sending them at once to the bottom. " I 

 have seen," says a mariner, as we find it in 

 Dampier, " one of these animals open its jaw, 

 and seizing a boat between its teeth, at once 

 bite and sink it to the bottom. I have seen 

 it, upon another occasion, place itself under 

 one of our boats, and, rising under it, overset 

 it, with six men who were in it; who, how- 

 ever, happily received no other injury." 

 Such is the great strength of this animal ; and 

 from hence, probably, the imagination has 

 been willing to match it in combat against 

 others more fierce, and equally formidable. 

 The crocodile and shark have been said to 

 engage with it, and yield an easy victory; 

 but as the shark is only found at sea, and the 

 hippopotamus never ventures beyond the 

 mouth of fresh-water rivers, it is most proba- 



ble that these engagements never occurred ; 

 it sometimes happens, indeed, that Ihe prin- 

 ces of Africa amuse themselves with combats, 

 on their frpsh-water lakes, between this and 

 other formidable animals; but whether the 

 rhinoceros or the crocodile are of this num- 

 ber, we have not been particularly informed. 

 If this animal be attacked on land, and find- 

 ing itself incapable of vengeance from the 

 swiftness of its enemy, it immediately returns 

 to the river, where it plunges in head fore- 

 most, and after a short time rises to the sur- 

 face, loudly bellowing, either to invite or in- 

 timidate the enemy; but though the negroes 

 will venture to attack the shark or the croco- 

 dile in their natural element, and there de- 

 stroy them, they are too well apprised of the 

 force of the hippopotamus to engage it; this 

 animal, therefore, continues the uncontrolled 

 master of the river, and all others lly from its 

 approach, or become an easy prey. 



As the hippopotamus lives upon fish and 

 vegetables, so it is probable the flesh of ter- 

 restrial animals may be equally grateful : the 

 natives of Africa assert, that it has often been 

 found to devour children and other creatures 

 that it was able to surprise upon land ; yet 

 as it moves but slowly, almost every creature, 

 endued with a common share of swiftness, is 

 able to escape it; and this animal, therefore, 

 seldom ventures from the river side, but when 

 pressed by the necessities of hunger, or of 

 bringing forth its young. 



Thefemalealvvays comesupon land to bring 

 forth, and it is supposed that she seldom pro- 

 duces above one at a time. Upon this occa- 

 sion, these animals are particularly timorous, 

 and dread the approach of a terrestrial enemy; 

 the instant the parent hears the slightest 

 noise, it dashes into the stream, and the young 

 one is seen to follow it with equal alacrity. 



The young ones are said to be excellent 

 eating; but the negroes, to whom nothing 

 that has life comes amiss, find an equal 

 delicacy in the old. Dr. Pococke has seen 

 their flesh sold in the shambles, like beef; 

 and it is said, that their breast, in particular, 

 is as delicate eating as veal. As for the rest, 

 these animals are found in great numbers, 

 and as they produce very fast, -their flesh 

 might supply the countries where they are 

 found, could those barbarous regions produce 



