172 PACHYDERMATOUS WATER TRESPASSERS. 



because, although it is very fond of the water, and 

 cannot be happy without either a plunge or a douche 

 bath, it does not fly to the water for shelter when 

 alarmed, neither does it obtain its food therein. We 

 therefore pass the elephant by, and proceed at once to 

 the typical water trespasser among them namely, the 

 Hippopotamus. 



I was much struck, when reading TopsePs " His- 

 tory of Four-footed Beasts/' with a remarkable point 

 in the history of the Hippopotamus. This book was 

 published more than two hundred years ago, and in it 

 are several curious examples of scepticism and credu- 

 lity. The latter quality is shown in the accounts 

 which the author gives of certain fabulous animals 

 such as the satyr, the lamia, the sphinx, the sea- 

 serpent, etc. all of which are described in perfect 

 good faith, the descriptions accompanied by illustra- 

 tions as remarkable as the letterpress. 



The reader may perhaps remember that, almost 

 within the memory of living men, the existence of the 

 giraffe was stoutly denied by the learned, while no 

 doubt was expressed about the Hippopotamus. 



Yet in TopseVs book the opposite course is pur- 

 sued. The author gives two figures of the giraffes 

 rather exaggerated, especially about the horns, which 

 in one figure are made like those of the ibex, but 

 figures which very fairly express the shape of the 

 animal. They are evidently drawn from the living 

 animal, and give the peculiar sloping shoulders, the 

 shape of the tail, and the form of the hoofs with perfect 

 accuracy. 



The writer also describes the very long and pre- 



