THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 451 



rounded nails. In all its organisation the hippopotamus is beautifully 

 adapted for a semi-aquatic life ; the eyes and nostrils forming the 

 highest points of the head, and thus allowing it to come up and breathe 

 with the least possible exposure of its body. The weight of a full- 

 grown bull hippo is at least three tons. 



Distribution. Formerly this animal frequented most of the rivers of 

 Africa south of the Sahara, but it has long since been exterminated 

 from the lower reaches of the 'Nile, and is daily becoming scarcer 

 in the South African rivers. In the Zambesi, where it is less easily 

 attacked than in the smaller rivers of Mashonaland, it is still 

 abundant, as it also is in the Chobi and neighbouring rivers, as 

 well as in Lake Ngami ; and even in the lower reaches of the 

 Orange River a few are still to be met with. North of the 

 Zambesi these animals occur in great numbers. Hippos are chiefly 

 hunted for the sake of their hides, which are manufactured into 

 sjamboks, or raw -hide whips. Their tusks have also a certain 

 commercial value, although not so great as formerly, when they 

 were employed for artificial teeth. 



In Liberia and adjacent parts of the West Coast occurs the much 

 smaller pigmy hippopotamus (H. liberiensis], an animal measuring only 

 some 6 feet in length, and possessing more the habits of a pig. It 

 also differs from the common species by having, as a rule, only one 

 (instead of two) pair of incisor teeth between the tusks. 



A hippopotamus, shot on the Shire River, British Central Africa, 

 by Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby, measured as follows : 



ft. in. ft. in. 



Total length, nose to tail 14 2 

 Tail .... i 8 

 Height at shoulder . 3 10 



Length of lower tusks . 2 5 

 Circumference of do. . 8^- 



Weight of the pair do. 1 4^ Ibs. 



Lower Curved Tusks, or Canines. 



Length round out- Circumference. Locality. Owner, 



side curve. 



1 64^ 7 \ E. Africa . . . F. J. Jackson. 



2-51 9 S.E. Africa . . J. Lament. 



411 %\ Do. . . Hon. Walter Rothschild. 



-41 8 Tana River, East Africa J. Benet Stanford. 



- Owner's measurements. 

 1 Protruding from jaw. 2 Malformed. 



