HIPPOPOTAMUS. 
360 
often seen hippopotami raise their heads above the 
surface of the sea, to breathe and neigh. In 
Guinea, the rivers, lakes, and marshy grounds* 
afford numbers of hippopotami. 
The Behemoth of Job is understood to have been 
no other but the hippopotamus ; his strength, his 
size, and his manners, are beautifully alluded to by 
the writer of that sublime book. 
The manners of this species are pretty well known. 
Their awful size has attracted attention. They are 
said to be polygamous, and the females much more 
numerous than the males. The female brings forth 
her young on land, but suckles it under water. 
The calf is but of a very moderate size for some 
time after birth. One caught by Dr. Sparrman, 
which was supposed to be about a fortnight or 
three weeks old, measured three feet and a half in 
length, and two feet in height. It is suckled by 
the mother, and remains for a while under her 
protection ; how long we know not. When 
caught, this calf uttered a squeaking noise, like 
a scared, or wounded hog. The voice of the 
adult animal is a neighing sound, which some 
describe as having a perfect resemblance to the 
neighing of a horse, ; while others represent it as a 
loud sonorous noise, between the bellowing of an 
ox, and the roaring of an elephant. 
Although an inhabitant of the waters, the hip- 
popotamus is well known to breathe air like land 
animals. On land he finds the chief part of his 
food. He may, perhaps, occasionally feed on 
aquatic plants ; but he very often leaves the waters, 
and commits wide devastations through all the adja- 
cent cultivated fields. On the banks of the Nile, be 
often defeats the hopes of the husbandman ; even 
a large field of corn or clover is soon entirely 
despoiled of verdure by his capacious jaws. In 
the south of Africa, he commits similar ravages. 
