766 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, OR ZEEKOE. 



number, and making the air resound with their resonant snorts. The snort of this 

 creature is a most extraordinary sound, and one that is well calculated to disturb the 

 nerves of sensitive persons, especially if heard unexpectedly. The animals at the 

 Zoological Gardens make the very roof ring with the strange unearthly sounds which 

 they emit. In their native state it is very difficult to ascertain even approximately the 

 number of a herd, as the animals are continually diving and rising, and never appear 

 simultaneously above the surface of the water. 



The creature is generally a harmless one, and need not be much dreaded. Some- 

 times, however, it becomes angry if molested in its watery home, and will then make a 

 violent attack upon the object that has excited its anger. One of these animals, whose 

 calf had been speared on the previous day, made at the boat in which Dr. Livingstone 

 was sitting, and drove her head against it with such force that she lifted the forepart of 

 the boat completely out of the water, capsized one of the black oarsmen fairly into the 

 river, and forced the whole crew to jump ashore. 



Although in its native river the female Hippopotamus is a most kind and affectionate 

 mother, the tame animal does not display such excellent qualities. The female Hippo- 

 potamus in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris has twice been a mother, and twice has 

 killed her offspring. On the last occasion she seemed to have been seized with a sudden fit 

 of anger, for the marks of her teeth were only too plain on the poor little beast when its 

 dead body was discovered, and her tusks had penetrated into its lungs. On the first 

 occasion she killed it from sheer awkwardness ; and after carrying it about on her neck 

 in the proper manner, she bruised it so severely in her clumsy efforts to teach her off- 

 spring the proper mode of getting out of the bath, that it never recovered from the hurts 

 which it received. 



The Hippopotamus has for years been extinct in Europe, but the fossil remains of the 

 animal are found abundantly in the London clay, showing that in some remote age the 

 Hippopotamus must have traversed the plains of England and wallowed in its rivers. 

 There is another species of Hippopotamus, which is smaller than that which has just 

 been described, and is termed Hippopotamus Liberiensis. It is a native of Western 

 Africa, and is remarkable for only having two incisors in the lower jaw. 



DASYPID,E. 



THIS small but important family includes the Manis, the Armadillo, the Ant-eater, 

 and the Platypus, or Duck-bill. 



The Phatagin is one of the numerous species that compose the strange genus of 

 Manis. All these animals are covered with a series of horny plates, sharp pointed and 

 keen-edged that lie with their points directed towards the tail, and overlap each other 

 like the tiles upon the roof of a house ; being the natural prototype of the metal scale- 

 armor that was prevalent in the days of chivalry, and of the horn-scale bucklers that 

 have been employed both in ancient and modern times. This defence of scales is not, 

 however, entirely of a negative character, like the shell of the tortoise, but can be con- 

 verted at will into a powerful weapon of offence towards all who come too hastily in 

 contact with it. When the Manis is pursued, and is unable to escape, it rolls itself 

 into a ball, after the manner of the hedgehog, so that the sharp-edged and acutely- 

 pointed scales stand boldly outward, and can inflict very unpleasant wounds on the hand 

 of man or the mouth of predaceous beast. The head is the most vulnerable part of 

 the Manis, but as it always takes care to hide its head within the curve of the body, it 

 has little fears on that score. 



The fore-claws of the Phatagin are very large, and are employed for the purpose of 

 tearing down the nest of the termite, or white-ant, as it is more popularly called, so as to 

 enable it to feed upon the inmates, as they run about in confusion at the destruction of 

 their premises. Ants, termites, and various insects are the favorite food of the Phatagin, 

 which sweeps them up by means of its long and extensile tongue, caring nothing for their 



