182 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



to a skull, " a long nose, under which was the 

 mouth." The Indians of North America are per- 

 suaded that the great Mastodon yet lives in the 

 unexplored forests of that country ; a circumstance, 

 all things considered, by no means impossible. 



Hippopotamus,* the River-horse. 



Nearly equalling the Elephant in size, if not in 

 height, and far more unwieldy and ungainly, the 

 Hippopotamus is the aquatic form of the Pachy- 

 derms, and evidently leads to the herbivorous Cetacea. 

 The skin is entirely without hairs ; the belly nearly 

 touches the ground ; the enormous head ends in a 

 bluff, square muzzle ; the nostrils, eyes, and ears, 

 are almost in one plane, and may thus be all at once 

 projected from the water, with the smallest possible 

 exposure of the head. The incisor teeth, as well as 

 the canines, take the form of tusks, and make the 

 hardest and whitest ivory. The species live habitu. 

 ally immersed in the great rivers of Africa, feeding 

 only on vegetable substances, but occasionally coming 

 oil shore. It was formerly common in the Nile, and 

 is usually considered the Behemoth of Scripture. 

 The Hippopotamus of the Cape (H. AmphiUus), 

 where it is called the Sea Cow (a name peculiarly 

 inappropriate), is of a greyish tint, varying, however, 

 as it is wet or dry. The hide, which exceeds the 

 thickness of an inch, is dragged from the carcass like 

 plank, to be cut into the strong and durable whips 

 s, hippos^ a horse, and wora^oj, 2wtamos t a river. 



