820 MR. A. D. BARTLETT ON THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. [Nov. 19, 



after its birth, and in the course of three or four hours was seen 

 sucking. The sucking at first took place when the female was lying 

 partly on her side, and was of short duration ; and the young one 

 wandered up and down by her side evidently looking for food. The 

 mother soon went into the water, followed by the young one ; and 

 here they passed a considerable time. When she left the water she 

 was closely followed by the little one ; and it was generally after 

 leaving the water that the young one sucked. We now observed the 

 female stood up with her back raised and arched, while the little 

 one would lie down under her teats and suck for a considerable 

 time ; and so freely did the milk come from the mother that the 

 face of the young one was sometimes quite white with it. 



Notwithstanding these favourable conditions, we had the greatest 

 difficulty in approaching the female Hippopotamus to give her food 

 or to clean out the den, so savage did she become on the entrance 

 into the house even of her keeper. The furious champing of her 

 jaws, the rushing forward against the iron bars, and smashing about, 

 caused us much alarm lest she should injure the young one during 

 these moments of fury ; in fact, upon one or two occasions she opened 

 her ponderous jaws in a threatening manner at the little one, and 

 made us tremble for its safety. It was a great relief, however, to 

 find how very little the young one seemed to mind her threats ; for 

 it soon commenced to open its mouth as wide as possible, and threaten 

 its mother. 



The time thus passed on until the morning of the 12th. This 

 morning I was surprised to find the two keepers in her house, 

 standing in front of her den, while she was engaged eating her food 

 as tamely and quietly as it was possible for her to be, the young one 

 not as usual by her side, but altogether out of sight. The men called 

 to me, as I entered the building, and expressed their sad and 

 melancholy looks by telling me that the young one was dead — for 

 they had been in the house some time at work, and no young one 

 could be seen in or out of the water, — and, moreover, that the mother 

 had probably killed it, as she was feeding, apparently glad to be no 

 longer troubled about it. Not feeling certain that they had been 

 careful enough in watching the tank, in which they supposed the 

 dead young one to be lying at the bottom, I went close to the side 

 of the tank, and looked with the most anxious care for the slightest 

 ripple in the water. The corners and every part were closely watched 

 for upwards of five or six minutes without discovering any signs of life. 

 I consulted with the men what it would be best to do ; and we 

 determined to let the water out of the tank, as it appeared to us 

 useless to allow the then supposed defunct beast to lie at the bottom 

 any longer. Therefore, in order to remove the plug to empty the tank, 

 the iron gate must be closed ; and this was about to be done. No 

 sooner, however, than the mother saw the gate was being closed, she 

 rushed at it, forced it back, and passed into the water, uttering her 

 loud roaring grunt* and diving about in the tank. To our utter 

 astonishment up came the head of the little one, shaking the water 

 out of its ears, and looking as if just awake. 



