ORDER PACHYDERM ATA. 399 



and straw. The largest intestine, when inflated, measures 

 about eight inches in diameter. A good figure from a living 

 specimen is a desideratum in Zoology. We shall add Mr. 

 Burchell's observations upon them in Southern Africa. 



The monstrous size and almost shapeless mass of even a 

 small Hippopotamus, when lying on the ground, appears 

 enormous. The animal is entirely of one uniform colour, 

 which may be correctly imitated by a light tint of China 

 ink. The hide, above an inch in thickness, is hardly flex- 

 ible ; the ribs are covered with a thick layer of fat, known 

 to the colonists as a rarity by the name of zeekoe-spek or 

 sea-cow pork. This can only be preserved by salting, as in 

 attempting to dry it in the sun in the same manner as the 

 other parts of the animal are usually treated, it melts 

 away : the rest of the flesh consists entirely of lean. 



It is very seldom that the Hippopotamus is wounded in any 

 other part than the head, but this does not happen from 

 the impenetrable nature of the rest of the hide, a reason 

 which has often been assigned, and originally invented, like 

 many other such tales, for the purpose of exciting wonder. 

 The truth is, that as the Hippopotamus hardly ever quits 

 the river but at night, and by day seldom ventures more 

 than its head above the surface of the water, there is no 

 place left for the marksman ; for no bullet, owing to its 

 great rapidity, can penetrate that element in a direct line 

 when fired obliquely, but first rebounds as it were from the 

 surface of it. 



The Hippopotamus, when rendered wary by the sus- 

 picion of approaching danger, raises out of the water only 

 his nostrils, eyes, and ears, which being all placed in the 

 same horizontal plane towards the upper part of the head, 

 it may with probability be concluded that nature assigned 

 them this position with a view to ensuring the safety of the 

 animal by enabling him to breathe, see, and hear, without 

 exposing himself much, on which account they are not so 



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