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THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 
The Hippopotamus, amidst the flood 
Flexile and active as the smallest swimmer. 
But on the bank ill balanced and infirm. 
Following the Elephants of such stupendous 
animal bulk, we have placed in our systems an 
animal nearly as large, but standing much lower 
upon its limbs, while it is entirely aquatic in its 
habits. Upon the land it is certainly the most 
unwieldy and unshapely animal in existence, and 
like all the aquatic mammalia we are acquainted 
with, the form is round, shapeless, but smooth, 
and possessing no sudden angles, which, while 
they might assist the symmetry, would offer 
resistance when swimming. The skin is hairless, 
almost like that of the Cetaceae when newly seen 
after immersion ; and underneath there is a thick 
coat of fat, as under the skin of the Swine, and 
perhaps somewhat analogous to the blubber of the 
Whale. 
One species only of Hippopotamus is yet 
known with any degree of authenticity ; it is 
