626 THE P HAT AGIN. 



will attack one or other of the crew, and with a single grasp of his horrid jaws either terribly 

 mutilates the poor fellow, or, it may be, cuts his body fairly in two. 



' ' The chase often lasts a considerable time. So long as the line and the harpoon hold, the 

 animal cannot escape, because the ' buoy ' always marks his whereabout. At length, from loss 

 of blood or exhaustion, Behemoth succumbs to his piirsuers." 



The Hippopotamus is a gregarious animal, collecting in herds of twenty or thirty in num- 

 ber, and making the air resound with their resonant snorts. The snort of this creature is a 

 most extraordinary sound, and one that is well calculated to disturb the nerves of sensitive 

 persons, especially if heard unexpectedly. The animals at the Zoological Gardens make the 

 very roof ring with the strange imearthly sounds which they emit. In their native state it is 

 very difficult to ascertain even approximately the number of a herd, as the animals are con- 

 tinually diving and rising, and never appear simultaneously above the surface of the water. 



The creature is generally a harmless one, and need not be much dreaded. Sometimes, 

 however, it becomes angry if molested in its watery home, and will then make a violent attack 

 upon the object that has excited its anger. One of these animals, whose calf had been speared 

 on the previous day, made at the boat in which Dr. Livingstone was sitting, and drove her 

 head against it with such force that she lifted the forepart of the boat completely out of the 

 water, capsized one of the black oarsmen fairly into the river, and forced the whole crew 

 to jump ashore. 



Although in its native river the female Hippopotamus is a most kind and affectionate 

 mother, the tame animal does not display such excellent qualities. The female Hippopotamus 

 in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris has twice been a mother, and twice has killed her offspring. 

 On the last occasion she seemed to have been seized with a sudden fit of anger, for the marks 

 of her teeth were only too plain on the poor little beast when its dead body was discovered, 

 and her tusks had penetrated into its lungs. On the first occasion she killed it from sheer 

 awkwardness ; and after carrying it about on her neck in the proper manner, she bruised it so 

 severely in her clumsy efforts to teach her offspring the proper mode of getting out of the 

 bath, that it never recovered from the hurts which it received. 



The Hippopotamus has for years been extinct in Europe, but the fossil remains of the 

 animal are found abundantly in the London clay, showing that in some remote age the Hippo- 

 potamus must have traversed the plains of England, and wallowed in its rivers. There is 

 another species of Hippopotamus, which is smaller than that which has just been described, 

 and is termed Hippopotamus Liberiensis. It is a native of Western Africa, and is remarkable 

 for only having two incisors in the lower jaw. 



ARMADILLOS, ANT-EATERS, ETC. 



We have now to treat of the several small families that embrace the Manis, the Armadillo, 

 the Ant-eater, and the Platypus, or Duck-bill. 



The Phatagin is one of the numerous species that compose the strange genus of Manis. 

 All these animals are covered with a series of horny plates, sharp pointed and keen edged, 

 that He with their points directed towards the tail, and overlap each other like the tiles upon 

 the roof of a house ; being the natural prototype of the metal scale-armor that was prevalent in 

 the days of chivalry, and of the horn-scale bucklers that have been employed both in ancient 

 and modern times. This defence of scales is not, however, entirely of a negative character, 

 like the shell of the tortoise, but can be converted at will into a powerful weapon of offence 

 towards all who come too hastily in contact with it. When the Manis is pursued, and is 

 unable to escape, it rolls itself into a ball, after the manner of the hedgehog, so that the sharp- 

 edged and acutely-pointed scales stand boldly outward, and can inflict very unpleasant wounds 

 on the hand of man or the mouth of predaceous beast. The head is the most vulnerable part 



