THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 305 



c harpoons. To fome of thefe hooks they fix a 

 c rope, and then leave the animal to exhaufi: 

 ' himfelf with ftruggling and the lofs of blood. 

 4 His flefh is very hard, and of difficult dige- 

 4 ftion *.' 



This is perhaps the bed defcription of the hip- 

 popotamus to be found among the ancients 5 

 for Diodorus commits not a fingle error, but 

 with regard to the number of the animal's toes. 



Obfervations on the mode of preparing the fkin of 

 the Hippopotamus, ?ioiv in the Prince of 

 Orange's Cabinet, by Br Klockner, 



I received from the Hague, in a very dry 

 ftate, the fkin of this hippopotamus, with the 

 head inclofed within it. The ikin had been 

 iirft falted, then dried, and afterwards the ikin 

 of a young hippopotamus (which is likewife ia 

 the Prince's cabinet) fteeped in brine, was, in a. 

 moift Hate, put into the adult fkin. After which, 

 the whole was packed up in coarfe cloth, and 

 tranfmitted from the Cape of Goo:! Hope to 

 Holland. The fmall fidn and the head, of 

 courfe, produced a ^ifagreeable odour of rancid 

 greafe, which attracted the infects, and they da- 

 maged the large ikin that was firft expofed to 

 their attacks. 



Vol. VI. U When 



* Dlodor. Sicul, lib. i. p. 42. edit. Wefejingii. 



