2S4 DIVISION I, vi'.i;ti;i!i;al animals. — fLASS i. mammalia. 



aj)])par:ince of tlie clcpliant in lii.s wild state, agret'd tliat tlie animal I)ef()re 

 us was at least ioiirteen feet in height ; and our Hottentots, in their broken 

 Dnteli, wliispered that he was ' cen groot gruwzaani karl — haniii, lania, 

 groot ! ' or, as one of them translated it, 'a hugeous terriljje fellow, plenty, 

 jiienty big ! ' The elephant at first did not seem to notice us, for the vision 

 of the animal is iKjt very acute, and the wind being j)retty bri>k, and we to 

 the leeward of him, his scent and hearing, though keen, had not ajij)rised 

 iiim of our approach, lint when we turned oil' at a gallop, making a circuit 

 thrijugli tiie bushes to avoid collision with him, he was startled by the sound 

 of our horses' feet, and turned towards us with a very menacing attitude, 

 erecting his enormous ears, and elevating his trunk in the air, as if about to 

 rush upon us. Had he done so, some of us would probably have been de- 

 stroyed ; for the elephant can run down a well-mounted horseman in a short 

 chase; and, besides, there was another ugly defile but a little way before us, 

 \\here the only passage was a difHi'ult jiass tlinjugh the jungle, with a prcci- 

 jiice on one side and a wooded mountain on the other. However, tlie 

 'gruwzaam karl,' fortunatel}', did not think it [irojier to give chase, but re- 

 mained on tiie same spot, looking steadfastly at us; well pleased, no doubt, 

 to be rid of our company, and satisfied to see his family all safe around him. 

 Tiie latter consistetl of two or three females, and as many 3oimg ones, that 

 had hastily crowded up behind him from the river margin, as if to claim his 

 jH'otection, when the rushing sound of our cavalcade startled their (piiet 

 valley." 



(leniis HiPi'Di'OTAMrs. Kext to the elephant the Hippopotamus is the 

 most bulky of the terrestrial mamnialia. It is an awkward, ungainly crea- 

 ture, of sluggish movements on the land, but, "amidst the flood, lle.xile and 

 active as the smallest swimmer." The skin is nearly destitute of hair, and has, 

 underneath, a thick coal of fat, like the swine. Although ]M. l)esniouliiis 

 lias designated — and with some degree of jirobability — two species, one 

 jicculiar to the Cajie of Good Hope, and the other to Senegal, the subject is 

 still involved in so much oljscurity and tmcertainty, we shall confine our 

 obscrvati(jns to the only authentic s[)ecies known. 



//. A'liiplilhlns. This animal is a native <jf Africa, inhabiting all the 

 rivers of that continent, from Egy])t to the (.'a])e, although gradually reced- 

 ing before the advance of civilization. The hip])opotaiiii are of gregarious 

 habit, and nocturnal, dwelling in the water by day, and leaving it only at 

 night, to seek their food, which consists of the succulent roots and stems of 

 large aquatic plants. "Their system of dentition is fitted for cutting and 

 bruising; the teeth are of large size, very lieavy, and yield the finest and 

 hardest kind of ivory. I'lie eyes, nostrils, and ears are all placed nearly on 

 the same plane, which allows the use of three senses, and of respiration, with 



