ON THE BONKS OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 373 



Chaatilly. at present in that of the king. It is represented in Hist, Nat. 

 Supp. to vol. iii, p. 62. 



Fro%i the Cape we have an adult hippopotamus of the cabinet of 

 Leyden, described by Allamand {Nat. Hist.) and that of the cabinet of 

 the Stadtholder, at present in our Museum. It was prepared and 

 described by Klockner. — Hist. Nat. Supp., vol. iii, pp. 306 and 308). 



It was at the Cape that Spannann observed the hippopotamus, and 

 that Gordon drew up the description and figures published by Alla- 

 mand (Nat. Hist. Supp., vol. v, pp. 1 and 2), and afterwards by 

 Buifon. 



Finally, it was also from the Cape that M. Delalande brought the 

 skeleton of the adult hippopotamus which conferred an additional value 

 upon this edition. Moreover, the species is becoming so rare in that 

 country, that it is forbidden to himt it, and M. Delalande was obliged 

 to obtain a special permission in order to procure this skeleton. 



As for Senegal, their numbers there must be siiil more inconsiderable, 

 as I have never been able to obtain one from that countrj^ notwith- 

 standing the express orders of the minister of Marine conveyed to the 

 governor. 



Besides the Cape and Senegal, we learn from Barbot and from many 

 other tiavellers, that there are numbers of them in Guinea and Congo. 

 Bruce assures us that they are very numerous in the Nile, in Abys- 

 sinia, and in the lake Tzana. Levaillant observed them in all the dis- 

 tricts of Cafifraria, through which he passed, so that almost the whole 

 of southern Africa is peopled with them. But are they confined to that 

 part of the world ? It is a long established opinion. Strabo (book xv, p. 

 lOr^, Amsterdam edit.), speaking on the testimony of Nearchus, and 

 Eratosthenes, denies the existence of any in the Indus, although he ad- 

 mits that Onesicritus affirmed it. Pausanias agrees with them, and 

 although Philostratus and Nonna have adopted the opinion of Onesi- 

 critus, it is certain that no traveller of accredited veracity has ever as- 

 serted that they are to be found on the Indian continent, even beyond 

 the Ganges. Buifon paid not the slightest attention to the testimony 

 of Michael Boyn, who places some in China; so that we are justified 

 in saying, that it is without the shadow of authority that Linnseus, in 

 his tenth and twelfth editions, supposes that there must be some at the 

 mouths of the rivers of Asia. Hence, too, M. Faujas seemed to pro- 

 ceed upon good authority in denying the existence of the hippopo- 

 tamus on that continent, but perhaps he should not have extended his 

 negation to the entire of Asia ; for Marsden, an author of some repute, 

 places the hippopotamus in the number of the animals of the island of 

 Sumatra. However, it remains to be proved, whether Mr. Marsden 

 lias been deceived or not. 



This question is very important in its bearings on zoology and the 

 theory of the earth. The solitary testimony of this single traveller, 

 the name hippopotamus thrown into a catalogue, without any further 

 description, raised considerable doubts in my mind ; and. having, 

 moreover, found that the late Peron, deceived by the equivoque of the 

 name sea calf applied by the Dutch indifferently to the hippopotamus 

 and the doujong, had mistaken the teeth of the latter for the teeth of 

 the hippopotamus, I supposed that the assertion of Mr, Marsden might 



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