XXXIl 
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 
At one time this unwieldy pig was distributed 
throughout the rivers and many lakes of Africa ; its 
range is more restricted now. The country around the 
Nyanza sources of the White Nile may be described as a 
paradise for hippopotamuses. These animals abound in 
the marshes of Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza, and in 
the papyrus swamps of the Bahr-el-Gebel, Bahr-el- 
Ghazal, and Lake No. 
A full-grown hippopotamus will measure from its lip 
to the tip of the short tail fourteen feet, stand fice feet 
high at the withers, and have a girth of fourteen feet. 
It has an enormous mouth, which is furnished with long, 
formidable teeth; in spite of the size of the teeth, 
the lips are so large as to completely conceal them when 
the mouth is closed. 
The teeth have peculiar characters. The incisors and 
canines, like the tusks of elephants and boars, grow 
persistently. The incisors in the upper jaw are curved 
and directed downwards, but the spear-like incisors 
in the lower jaw are procumbent. The canine teeth or 
tusks are curved and grow continuously ; their increase 
in length is kept in check by attrition of the canines in 
the upper against those in the lower jaws. Occasionally 
the antagonism of these teeth is so imperfect that 
the persistent growth is not kept in check by wear. 
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