FROM PLINY TO SIR S. BAKER 
Pliny naturally copied his master, and added to his 
errors. According to Buffon the first good account 
of the hippopotamus was given by one Frederico 
Zerenghi, who wrote in the year 1603. It must be 
admitted that in that account there is much that is 
both new and true. He observed the four toes, the 
enclosure of the teeth in the mouth when closed, the - 
correct size, and noted that then, as now, whips are 
made of the thick skin, sjamboks in fact. But in 
repeating the assertions of others Zerenghi goes astray ; 
for he quotes legend to the effect that the animal feeds 
upon fish, crocodiles, and dead human bodies. He 
himself, however, noted that rice and grain were con- 
sumed by the animal, but was misled by the great 
fangs into placing credence upon its flesh-eating pro- 
pensities. There is no doubt that though the hippopo- 
tamus does eat vegetable matters its teeth are used as 
offensive weapons. Mr. Consul Petherick, who brought 
over a specimen for the Zoological Society in 1860, 
related how a hippopotamus “suddenly raising half 
its great carcass with an agility hardly to be expected 
out of the water, close under the bows, carried off my 
unfortunate cook from the gunwale on which he was 
sitting, one bite of the animal’s powerful jaws sufficing 
to sever his body in two at the waist.’ Other travellers 
have told similar stories. The hippopotamus, being 
an aquatic creature, naturally can dive with ease and 
stay under water for some time. There has been 
some exaggeration as to its capacities in this respect. 
Sir Samuel Baker limits its endurance to ten minutes ; 
but Mr. A. D. Bartlett, the late Superintendent of the 
Zoological Gardens, found that a new born hippopota- 
mus remained at the bottom of its tank for no less 
a period than fifteen minutes, whence it was fished up 
in a perfectly lively condition. The hippopotamus will 
occasionally put out to sea, and the fact that it will 
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