THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 
181 
The adult measures from ten to eleven 
^®et in length, by four or five in height, 
^fuce makes mention of hippopotami as ex- 
^^■ting in the late Tzana, exceeding twenty 
feet in length ; and Goldsmith relates that an 
^falian surgeon, having procured one from the 
^ile, found it to measure seventeen feet in 
^®ftgth, seven in height, and fifteen in circum- 
f^tence. According to more recent writers, 
ffiese statements must be exaggerated. The 
^^fgest ever killed by Colonel Gordon, an ex- 
perienced hippopotamist, did not exceed eleven 
feet eight inches. Le Vaillant shot one mea- 
^'Uring from the muzzle to the insertion of the 
f9.ii, ten feet seven inches, and eight feet in 
^frcumference, but from the small size of the 
f^sks he supposed it to be young. Even of 
ffiese reduced dimensions, he must be an ad- 
''^rsary with which scarcely any other animal 
f'^ould wish to contend. Notwithstanding his 
Peaceful habits, however, he is not less the 
