182 



THAT'S IT ; 



habits, yet not being amphibious, 

 requires to hear, see, and breathe, 

 while its body is immersed in 

 water. From the peculiar forma- 

 tion of its head, the animal, by 

 raising merely a small upper sec- 

 tion of its head above the sur- 

 face, can look around, listen, and 

 breathe freely, while the body is 

 completely sub-merged.* 



The hippopotami feed chiefly 

 on coarse grass. In districts 

 frequented by man they generally 

 pass the day in the water, and 

 obtain nourishment during the 

 night; but in other places they 

 often pass a portion of the day, 

 as well as the night, upon dry 

 land. 



Quiet and inoffensive, it is only when attacked 

 that the hippopotamus becomes furious, and if 

 hard pressed on land, he rushes open-mouthed 

 with the utmost desperation on his aggressor, 

 ^.f the party attacking the animal in his watery 

 domicile be in a boat, their danger is extreme. 

 Captain Owen, during his voyages to explore 

 the shores of Africa, had many encounters with 

 these animals. While examining a branch of 

 the Temby river, in Delagoa Bay, a violent shock 

 was suddenly felt from underneath the boat, and 

 " in another moment a monstrous hippopotamus 

 reared himself up from the water, and in a most 

 ferocious and menacing attitude rushed open- 

 mouthed at the boat, with one grasp of its tre- 

 mendous jaws seized and tore seven planks from 

 her side ; the creature disappeared for a few 

 seconds, and then rose again, apparently intend- 

 ing to repeat the attack, but was fortunately 

 deterred by the contents of a musket discharged 

 in its face. The boat rapidly filled, but as she 

 was not more tnan an oar's length from the 

 shore, they (the crew) succeeded in reaching it 

 before she sank. The keel, in all probability, 

 had touched the back of the animal, which, irri- 

 tating him, occasioned this furious attack ; and, 

 had he got his upper jaw above the gunwale, the 

 whole broadside must have been torn out. The 

 force of the shock from beneath, previously to 

 the attack, was so violent, that her stern was 

 almost lifted out of the water, and Mr. Tambs, 

 the midshipman, was thrown overboard, but 

 fortunately rescued before the irritated animal 

 could seize him.f 



A remarkable contrast in the 

 formation of the head is presented 



* See The Reason Why, Natural History, for a 

 complete view of the reasons for the peculiar formations 

 of animals. 



t Knight's Museum of Animated Nature. 



by the tapir, 18, another animal 

 of the same order. The ears are 

 in a similar position, but the eyes 

 are lower down, and the mouth, 

 19, is accompanied by a short 

 proboscis, 20. The fondness of 



this animal for water is nearly as 

 great as that of the hippopotamus, 

 and though, like the latter, it can 

 sustain total immersion for several 

 minutes, it cannot float for those 

 lengthened periods which the 

 hippopotamus does ; it is a more 

 active animal than the latter, and 

 is able by its greater speed to 

 find in the depths of its native 

 forests that security and conceal- 

 ment which the hippopotamus 

 seeks from immersion in streams. 

 The tapir 

 employs its 

 proboscis in 

 the prehen- 

 sion of food, 

 and fre- 

 quently im- 

 merses its 

 head beneath 

 the water to 

 explore the 

 banks of streams. 

 America, India, 

 Sumatra. 



524. 



It is found in 

 Malacca, and 



