136 
MAMMALIA. 
animal tries to defend itself. In its sudden action it sometimes 
overturns the boats containing its enemies. Occasionally, des- 
perate with rage at being wounded, it tries to tear the boats to 
pieces with its formidable tusks. Woe betide the men then who 
are on board ! With one bite it could cut through the middle of 
the body of a full-grown man. 
The natives of Africa hunt the Hippopotamus, first to obtain 
the ivory furnished by its tusks — an ivory which, without being 
so good as that of the Elephant, is nevertheless a valuable com- 
modity in the trade of the two hemispheres. The skin, or hide, 
which is very thick, is also employed in the manufacture of various 
instruments. The flesh of the Hippopotamus is also very much 
esteemed. It is sought after in South Africa as a delicate morsel. 
The epicures of the towns in the Cape Colony do not hesitate 
to employ their influence with the farmers of the interior of the 
African continent to obtain a quarter of a Sea-cow ( Vache de Mer). 
The parts of the skin of the animal covered with fat are salted 
and dried like bacon. Such are the inducements which threaten 
with complete and speedy destruction one of the zoological types 
the most curious, if not one of the most elegant. On account of 
the perfection to which fire-arms have been brought, hunting 
for these animals is much more easy than it was formerly, and 
everything announces that this species will very soon become 
extinct. 
The inhabitants of equatorial Africa catch the Hippopotamus 
in a trap. Knowing the paths taken by the animal on leaving 
the river to go along the bank, they hang in a thicket, with the 
help of long poles kept in equilibrium, a stake terminated in a 
steel point. , The Hippopotamus, in traversing the thicket, deranges 
the poles, and the sharp instrument, falling from a great height 
on the animal’s head, kills or wounds it so seriously that it can 
easily afterwards be approached and despatched. 
The history of the Hippopotamus for a long time reposed on 
very vague notions. Herodotus attributed to it a tail furnished 
with hair analogous to that of Horses ; Aristotle gave it a name ; 
and Pliny reproduced these two assertions without commen- 
tary. 
The artists of antiquity, more faithful to nature than the his- 
torians and the naturalists, have left good representations of this 
