HIl'l'OPOTAMUS. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE HIBS©iP©iTAMUS. 



Behemoth— Its Diminishing Number and ©iantractiug Empire— Its Ugliness — 

 A Rogue Hippopotamus or Solitaire— Dangerous Meeting — Intelligence and 

 Memory of the Hippopotamus — Methods employed for Killiiig the Hippopota- 

 mus — Hippopotamus-Hunting on the Teoge. 



' TOEHOLD now Behemoth, which I made with thee ; he eateth 

 JJ grass as an ox ; his bones are as strong pieces of brass ; 

 his bones are like bars of iron ; he Heth under the shady trees, 

 in the covert of the reeds and fens. The shady trees cover him 

 with their shadow ; the willows of the brook compass him 

 about. Behold he drinketh up a river: he trusteth that he can 

 draw up Jordan into his mouth.' 



Thus, in the book of Job, we find the- Hippopotamus por- 

 trayed with few words but incomparable power. 



According to the inspired poet, this huge animal seems an- 

 ciently to have inhabited the waters of Palestine, but now it is 

 nowhere to be found in Asia ; and even in Africa the limits of 

 its domain are perpetually contracting before the persecutions 

 of man. It has entirely disappeared from Egypt and Cape 

 Colony, where Le Vaillant found it in numbers during the last 

 century. In many respects a valuable prize ; of easy destruc- 

 tion, in spite, or rather on account of its size, which betrays 

 it to the attacks of its enemies ; a dangerous neighbotu to 



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