498 HISTORY OF 



shark have been said to engage with it, and yield an easy \\c- 

 tory ; but as the shark is only found at sea, and the hippopota- 

 mus never ventures beyond the nr^outh of fresh-water rivers, it is 

 most probable that these engagements never occurred ; it some- 

 times happens, indeed, that the princes of Africa amuse them- 

 selves with combats, on their fresh-water lakes, between this 

 and other formidable animals ; but whether the rhinoceros or 

 the crocodile are of this number we have not been particularly 

 informed. If this animal be attacked on land, and find itself 

 incapable of vengeance from the swiftness of its enemy, it im- 

 mediately returns to the river, where it plunges in head foremost, 

 and, after a short time, rises to the surface, loudly bellowing, 

 either to invite or intimidate the enemy ; but though the negroes 

 will venture to attack the shark or the crocodile in their natural 

 element, and there destroy them, they are too well apprised of 

 the force of the hippopotamus to engage it; this animal, there- 

 fore, continues the uncontrolled master of the river, and all 

 others fly from its approach, or become an easy prey. 



As the hippopotamus lives upon iish and vegetables, so it is 

 probable the flesh of terrestrial animals may be equally grateful : 

 the natives of Africa assert, that it has often been found to de- 

 vour children and other creatures that it was able to surprise 

 upon land ; yet, as it moves but slowly, almost every creature, 

 endued with a common share of swiftness, is able to escape it; 

 and this animal, therefore, seldom ventures from the river side, 

 but when pressed by the necessities of hunger, or of bringing 

 forth its young. 



The female always comes upon land to bring forth, and it is 

 supposed that the seldom produces above one at a time. Upon 

 this occasion these animals are particularly timorous, and dread 

 the approach of a terrestrial enemy ; the instant the parent hears 

 the slightest noise it dashes into the stream, and the young one 

 is seen to follow it with equal alacrity. 



The young ones are said to be excellent eating ; but the ne- 

 groes, to whom nothing that has life comes amiss, find an equal 

 delicacy in the old. Dr Pococke has seen their flesh sold in the 

 shambles like beef; and it is said that their breast, in particular, 

 is as delicate eating as veal. As for the rest, these animals are 

 fomid in great numbers, and as they produce very fast, their 

 liesh might supply the countries where they are found, could 



