THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 281 



* gypt, in 1601, 1 brought thefe fkins to Venice, 



* and from thence to Rome. I mowed them 

 ' to feveral intelligent phylicians. Doctor Je- 

 c rome Aquapendente and the celebrated Al- 

 ' drovandus, were the only perfons who recog- 

 ' nifed them to be the fpoils of the hippopota- 



* mus ; and, as Aldrovandus's work was then 

 c printing, I allowed him to draw a figure from 

 c the (kin of the female, which he inferted in 



* his book. 



* The fkin of the hippopotamus is very thick, 

 1 and very hard ; it is even impenetrable, un- 

 lefs after being long fteeped in water. The 

 mouth is not, as the ancients alledge, of a 

 middle fize, but enormoufly large. Neither 

 are his feet divided into two toes, but in- 

 to four. His fize is not that of an afs ; 

 for he is much larger than the largeft horfe or 

 buffalo. His tail refembles not that of a hog, 

 but rather that of the tortoife, only it is in- 

 comparably larger. His muzzle is not turned 

 up, but refembles that of the buffalo, and is 

 much larger. He has no mane, but only a 

 few fhort, fcattered hairs. He neighs not like 

 a horfe ; but his voice is a medium between 

 the bellowing of a buffalo and the neighing 

 of a horfe. Pie has no tufts which protrude 

 out of the mouth ; for, when the mouth is 

 (hut, the teeth, though extremely large, are all 

 concealed within the lips The inha- 

 bitants of this part of Egypt call him foras 



* r&ar 9 which fignifies the feci horfe. . . . Be- 



4 Ion's 



