THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



i 



PLATE XIX. 



Class Mammalia. Order VIII. Pachyderrnata : Thick- 

 skinned animals. Genus Hippopotamus. 

 ALTHOUGH this animal has been celebrated from the 

 earliest ages, it was, notwithstanding, but imperfectly 

 known to the ancients. It was only towards the sixteenth 

 century that we had some precise indications on the sub- 

 ject. 



In comparing the descriptions which we have observed 

 in different travellers, the Hippopotamus appears to be an 

 animal whose body is longer and thicker than that of the 

 rhinoceros : but his fore-legs are much shorter. His head 

 is short, and thick in proportion to the body. He has no 

 horns, neither on the nose, like the rhinoceros, nor on the 

 head, like ruminating animals. His cry, when hurt, ap- 

 proaches as near to the neighing of the horse, as the bel- 

 lowing of the buffalo ; but his usual voice resembles the 

 neighing of a horse ; from which, however, he differs in 

 every other respect ; and this fact, we may presume, has 

 been the sole reason for giving him the name of Hippopot- 

 amus, or River Horse ; as the howling of the lynx, which 

 resembles that of the wolf, has occasioned him to be called 

 the stag-like wolf. The incisive teeth of the Hippopotamus, 

 and especially the two canine teeth of the lower jaw, are 

 very long, very strong, and of so hard a substance, that 

 they strike fire with a piece of iron. This is probably 

 what has given rise to the fable of the ancients, who have 

 reported that the Hippopotamus vomited fire. These ca- 

 nine teeth of this animal are of white, so clear and so 

 hard, that they are preferable to ivory for making artificial 

 teeth. The incisive teeth of the Hippopotamus, especially 



