THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 177 



Sometimes the Hippopotamus turns sharply on the 

 canoe and endeavours to crush it between his enormous 

 jaws, or to drive it out of the water by a blow from 

 his head. Should he succeed in his attack, the men 

 all dive to the bottom of the river and hold on by the 

 weeds or stones until they are forced to come to the 

 surface to breathe. The fact is, that the Hippopotamus 

 cannot imagine the possibility of a foe beneath the 

 water, and therefore never thinks of looking for enemies 

 anywhere below it. As soon as he has smashed the 

 canoe, he raises his head as high out of the water as 

 possible, and if he cannot see anything alive on which 

 to wreak his vengeance, he goes off, satisfied with 

 what he has done. 



Mr. Baines most kindly placed all his sketches at 

 my disposal, and I have transferred three of them 

 which represent the Hippopotamus hunt to my "Natural 

 History of Man/' published by Messrs. Eoutledge and 

 Sons, vol. 1, pp. 880383. 



Although the Hippopotamus can live without access 

 to water, it does not thrive properly, and even the 

 very character of its skin becomes altered. This was 

 shown by the male Hippopotamus which was sent to 

 England in 1850, and which created such a sensation. 

 During its long travels from Egypt to the Zoological 

 Gardens, it could not bathe properly, and could only 

 have the comfort of a few buckets of water poured 

 over it daily. When it arrived it was about as large 

 as a prize hog, and was quite mild and tame, being 

 quite demonstratively affectionate towards its keeper, 

 a young Arab lad named Salama, who called his charge 

 by the name of Buckeet, i.e., the Lucky One. Mr. F. 



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