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HIPPOPOTAMUS, OR RIVER HORSE. 
animal. But he is naturally of a mild disposition, and is only formida- ’ 
ble when provoked. His bulk is so great, that twelve oxen have 
been found necessary to draw one ashore, which had been shot in a 
river above the Cape ; and Hasselquist says, its hide is a load for 
a camel. 
Though he delights in the water, and lives as freely in it as on land, 
yet he has not, like the beaver or otter, membranes between his toes. 
The great size of his belly renders his specific gravity nearly equal to 
that of the water, and makes him swim with ease. These animals 
inhabit the rivers of Africa, from the Niger to Berg river, many miles 
north of the Cape of Good Hope. They formerly abounded in the 
rivers nearer the Cape, but are now almost extirpated : and to pre- 
serve the few' that are in Berg river, the governor absolutely pro- 
hibited the shooting of them without particular permission. They 
are not found in any of the African rivers that run into the Mediter- 
ranean, except the Nile, and even there only in Upper Egypt, and in 
the fens and lakes of Ethiopia, which that river passes through. 
From the unwieldiness of his body, and the shortness of his legs, 
the hippopotamus is not able to move fast upon land, and is then 
extremely timid. When pursued, he takes to the water, plunges in, 
sinks to the bottom, and is seen walking there at full ease ; he cannot, 
however, often continue long there without rising to the surface ; 
and in the day-time is so fearful of being discovered, that when he 
takes in fresh air, the place is hardly perceptible, for he does not 
venture even to put his nose out of the water. In rivers unfrequented 
by mankind, he is less cautious, and puts his whole head out of the 
water. If wounded, he will rise and attack boats and canoes with 
great fury, and often sink them by biting large pieces out of the sides; 
and frequently people are drowned by these animals, for they are as 
bold in water as they are timid upon land. It is reported that at 
one bite thev will sever a man in two. 
In shallow rivers the hippopotamus makes deep holes in the 
bottom, in order to conceal his great bulk. When he quits the water, 
he usually puts out half his body at once, and smells and looks 
around, but sometimes rushes out with great impetuosity, and tram- 
ples down every thing irf his way. During the night, he leaves the 
river in order to pasture ; when he eats sugar-canes, rushes, millet, 
rice, &c. consuming great quantities, and doing much damage in the 
cultivated fields. But as he is so timid on land, it is not difficult to 
drive him off. The Egyptians, Mr. Hasselquist informs us, have 
a curious method of freeing themselves from this destructive animal. 
— They mark the place he frequents most, and there lay a great 
quantity of pease ; when the beast comes on shore, hungry and 
voracious, he falls to eating what is nearest him, and, filling his belly 
with the pease, they occasion an insupportable thirst; he then returns 
immediately to the river, and drinks upon these pease large draughts 
of water, — which suddenly causes his death, for the pease soon begin 
t© swell with the water, and not long after, the Egyptians find him 
dead on the shore, blown up, as if killed with the strongest poison. 
The river horse also feeds on roots of trees, which he loosens from 
the earth with his great teeth ; but never eats fish, as is asserted by 
