THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 283 



c Each toe has a nail, and each foot four toes. 



* The fkin, on the back, is near an inch, and 

 ' that on the belly about feven lines thick. 



* The fkin, when dried, is fo hard that a 

 1 mufket ball cannot pierce it. The country 

 ' people make large fhields of it, and likewife 

 ' ufe it for thongs or whips. On the furface 

 ' of the fkin there are a few fcattered whitifh 

 ' hairs, which are not perceptible at firft fight. 



* On the neck the hairs are longer, and all of 

 ' them placed one by one, at greater or fmaller 

 ' diftances from each other. But, on the lips, 



* they form a kind of whifkers ; for, in feveral 



* places, ten or twelve of them illue from the 



* fame point. Thefe hairs are of the fame co- 

 ' lour as the others, only they are harder, thick- 



* er, and fomewhat longer, though none of them 



* exceeds half an inch in length. 



s The length of the tail is eleven inches four 

 Mines: Its circumference, at the origin, is a 

 ' little more than a foot, and, at the extremity, 



* two inches ten lines. 



4 The tail is not round ; but, from the middle 



* to the point, it is flattened, like that of an eel. 



* Upon the tail and the thighs there are fome 

 ' round fcales, of a whitifh colour, and as large 



* as lentils. Thefe fmall fcales likewife appear 

 ' on the breafl, the neck, and fome parts of the 



* head. 



' From the extremity of the lips to the be- 

 ' ginning of the neck, the head is four feet four 

 ' inches. 



1 The 



