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CHAPTER III. 



ON THE BONES OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



Im treating of the hippopotamus, I shall pursue the same course I 

 adopted in the case of the elephant : I shall first describe the osteology 

 of the species already known, describe the countries it inhabits, 

 examine into the supposition of the existence of many species, and I 

 shall then proceed to make a comparison between the bones of the 

 same species found in the fossil state. 



Such shall be the scope of the present chapter, which I shall divide 

 into two sections, like that which treats of the bones of elephants. 



SECTION I. 



ON THE LIVING HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



Article I. 

 Observations made upon the Hippopotamus. 



The history and organization of the hippopotamus has been, and is 

 at present to a certain extent, less known than that of any other of 

 the great quadrupeds. 



Although we may believe with Rochart, that it is the Behemoth of 

 Job, the passage relating to it in that book is too vague to serve to 

 characteriste it. 



The description of the hippopotamus, given by Aristotle in his 

 History of Animals, book ii, chap. 7, is so far removed from the animal 

 at present known by that name, that we are at a loss for the means 

 of explaining such an assemblage of blunders. It is true that that 

 great naturalist points out Egypt as its country, but he goes on to give 

 it the figure of the ass, the inane and neighing of the horse, and the 

 cloven foot of the ox {^lyjnfCov S' eWi oio-irep jSoSs.) Its snout is snubbed, its 

 lips slightly divided, its teeth somewhat projecting, and its tail 

 similar to that of the wild boar ; the skin of its back is so thick that 

 javelins are formed of it. 



We are the more astonished at this ridiculous description, when on 

 ascending to the sources of this information, we find that it is almost 

 entirely borrowed from Herodotus, who is generally most exact in his 

 description of whatever he had himself observed. He has even one 

 error more than Aristotle, for he says, " the tail of the hippopotamus 

 is likewise similar to that of the horse ;" but to compensate for this. 



