AN INVULNERABLE PACHYDERM. 287 



and eight to ten in height. His head is immensely large ; the mouth 

 cavernous in its prodigious width; the teeth immensely strong, the 

 incisors and canines of the lower jaw being long, and curved for- 

 wards ; these canines or tusks sometimes measure more than two feet in 

 length, and weigh upwards of six pounds each. Those in the upper 

 jaw are much smaller, and the front teeth are of a moderate size. The 

 broad thick lips are beset with scattered tufts of short bristles ; the 

 small quick eyes are placed very near the top of the head ; the small 

 ears are slightly pointed, and lined with short thick hair. His food 

 mainly consists of the coarse herbage that nourishes on the banks of 

 lakes and rivers ; but Milne Edwards speaks of three or four of them 

 standing knee-deep in the water, forming an irregular line, and 

 pouncing upon the fish brought within their reach by the rapid 

 currents. At night time they abandon their watery haunts to prowl 

 among the sugar-cane plantations, the fields of millet and rice, which 

 they devour with eagerness. Their march is so impetuous, that they 

 break down every barrier ; nothing can resist them. 



The hippopotamus is spread over all eastern and southern Africa ; 

 is found in Nubia, Ethiopia, Abyssinia; at the Cape, the Senegal and 

 the Congo. Both the settlers and the natives of these countries hunt 

 them with ardour for the sake of the ivory they yield, nor is their 

 flesh despised by a keen appetite and vigorous stomach. Sometimes 

 they excavate, in the animal's ordinary route, a tolerably deep pit, 

 beset with sharp pointed poles, and concealed by a covering of leafy 

 branches : sometimes, in the shade of the evening, they lie in ambus- 

 cade among the bushes, and aim at his huge bulk the deadly bullet, as 

 he comes up from the water, labouring and bellowing. It is neces- 

 sary to aim well at his head ; for the rest of his body is almost as in- 

 vulnerable as that of Achilles. 



Here is a lively picture from Sir Samuel Baker's valuable volumes, 

 in which the hippopotamus is a foremost figure. 



"We were towing through high reeds," he says,* "the men 

 invisible, and the rope mowing over the high tops of the grass, when 

 * Sir S. Baker, " The Albert N'yanza," &c. ( i. 65-67. 



