MAMMALIA— HIPPOPOTAMUS. 295 



he is more timid upon earth than in the water, he is very easily driven 

 away ; and, as his legs are short, he cannot save himself well by flight, if he 

 is far from any water. His resource, when he finds himself in danger, is to 

 plunge himself into the water, and go a great distance before he reappears. 

 He commonly retreats from his pursuers; but if he is wounded, he becomes 

 irritated, and immediately facing about with great fury, rushes against the 

 boats, seizes them with his teeth, often tears pieces out of them, and some- 

 times sinks them under water. " I have seen," says a traveller, " an 

 hippopotamus open his mouth, fix one tooth on the side of a boat and another 

 to the second plank under the keel ; that is, four feet distant from each other, 

 pierce the side through and through, and in this manner sink the boat to 

 the bottom. I have seen another lying by the side of the sea-shore, upon 

 which the waves had driven a shallop heavily laden, which remained upon 

 his back dry, and which was again washed back by another wave, without 

 the animal appearing to have received the least injury. When the negroes 

 go a fishing in their canoes, and meet with an hippopotamus, they throw 

 fish to him ; and then he passes on, without disturbing their fishery any 

 more. He injures most when he can rest himself against the earth; but 

 when he floats in the water, he can only bite. Once, when our shallop was 

 near shore, I saw one of them get underneath it, lift it above water upon 

 his back, and overset it with six men who were in it ; but fortunately they 

 received no hurt." 



" We dare not," says another traveller, " irritate the hippopotamus in the 

 water, since an adventure happened, which was near proving fatal to three 

 men. They were going in a small canoe, to kill one in a river where there 

 was about eight or ten feet water. After they had discovered him walking 

 at the bottom, according to his custom, they wounded him with a long lance, 

 which so greatly enraged him, that he rose immediately to the smfaceof the 

 water, regarded them with a terrible look, opened his mouth, and, at one 

 bite, took a great piece out of the side of the canoe, and had very nearly 

 overturned it ; but he replunged, almost directly, to the bottom of the water." 



These animals are only numerous in some parts of the world ; it even 

 appears, that the species is confined to particular climates, and seldom to be 

 met with, but in the rivers of Africa. Dutch travellers say that they bear 

 three or four young ones ; but this appears very suspicious, as the hippopota- 

 mus is of an enormous bulk; he is in the class of the elephant, the rhinoce- 

 ros, the whale, and all other great animals, who bring forth but one ; and 

 this analogy appears more certain than all the testimonies that they have 

 exhibited. The female brings forth her young upon land, and the calf, at 

 the instant v/hen it comes into the world, will fly to the water for shelter if 

 pursued; a circumstance which Thunberg notices as a remarkable instance 

 of pure instinct. Major Denham furnishes us with the following amusing 

 account : — 



"It was intended this evening to have killed an hippopotamus, an animal 



