HIPOPOPOTAMUS, the RIVER-HORSE; a genus of quadrupeds, belonging to the order of belluæ; the characters of which are these: it has six fore-teeth in the upper jaw, disposed in pairs at a distance from each other; and four prominent fore-teeth in the under jaw, the intermediate ones being longest: the dog-teeth are solitary and obliquely truncated; and the feet are hoofed on the edges.
There is but one species of hippopotamus, viz. the amphibius, or river-horse. The history of this quadruped, though next to the elephant in magnitude, is far from being sufficiently delineated. The best description hitherto given of him is that of Frederic Zerenghi, an Italian surgeon, published in the year 1603. Zerenghi killed two of them (a male and a female) on the banks of the Nile, preserved their skins, and brought them to Rome. Every skin took 400 pounds of salt in curing. He says, the skin of the hippopotamus is about an inch thick, extremely hard, impenetrable by a common musket-ball; and there are only a few short white hairs scattered very thin over it. The teeth are not protruded out of the mouth, as is commonly believed; for, when the mouth is shut, although the teeth be extremely large, they are entirely covered by the lips. The dimensions of the female, of which Zerenghi gives a figure, are as follow: from the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, between 11 and 12 feet; the circumference of the body, about 10 feet; the height of the body, 4½ feet; the circumference of the leg, near the shoulder, 2 feet 9 inches, lower down 1 foot 9½ inches; the height of the legs about 1½ foot; the length of the feet from the extremity of the claws, 4½ inches: the claws are nearly of an equal length and breadth, and are somewhat more than two inches; each toe is furnished with a claw, and each foot has four toes. The tail is a-
bout one foot long, more than a foot in circumference near the origin, and about 3 inches near the point. The tail is not round, but flattish. The head, from the extremity of the lips to the neck, is about 2 feet 4 inches, and the circumference 5 feet 8 inches. The ears are about 3 inches long, and nearly as broad; they are a little pointed, and covered in the interior side with short white hair. The mouth, when open, is about 1½ foot wide, and furnished with 44 teeth of different figures. Their teeth are of such a hard substance, that they give fire with steel. These dimensions are taken from a female hippopotamus; but the male is generally about one third larger.
With such powerful arms, and such a prodigious strength of body, the hippopotamus might render himself formidable to every other animal. But he is naturally of a mild disposition; and besides, his body is so heavy, and his motions so slow, that he cannot overtake any other quadruped. He swims swifter than he runs, and preys upon fishes. He dives in the water, and can stay very long under. He has no membrane betwixt his toes, as the castor or the otter; and he only swims easily in consequence of the great bulk of his belly, which makes him nearly of an equal specific gravity with the water. Moreover, he often keeps himself at the bottom, and walks upon the channel with the same freedom as upon dry land. Besides preying upon fishes, crocodiles, &c. he frequently goes out of the water, and feeds upon sugar-canes, rushes, millet, rice, roots, &c. These he devours in large quantities, and often does great damage in the cultivated field. But as he is more timid on land than in the water, he is easily driven away. His legs are so short, that he cannot escape by flight when at a distance from the river. He generally flies when approached by people in boats; but, if they wound him, he returns with fury, attacks the boats with his teeth, and frequently oversets them.
This animal seems to be confined principally to the rivers of Africa. The male and female generally go together, and the female is said to produce but one at a time.
Concerning this creature Mr Hasselquist relates the following particulars, which he says he had from a credible person who lived 12 years in Egypt.
“ 1. The hide of a full-grown hippopotamus is a load for a camel.
“ 2. The river-horse is an inveterate enemy to the crocodile, and kills it whenever he meets it. This, with some other reasons, contributes much to the extirpation of the crocodile; which, otherwise, considering the many eggs they would lay, would utterly destroy Egypt.
3. “ The river-horse never appears below the cataracts in Egypt; wherefore the inhabitants of Upper Egypt only can give an account of it; and as very few Europeans, none at least who understood natural history, have travelled into those parts of Egypt, we know little of the history of this animal; such as have travelled in India, have had better opportunities of informing themselves in this matter. The Egyptians very seldom bring the hide of it to Cairo; and it is impossible to bring thither the living animal. A hide has been sent to France, which, I am informed, is preserved in the royal menagerie.
4. "The river-horse does much damage to the Egyptians in those places he frequents. He goes on shore, and in a short space of time destroys an entire field of corn or clover, not leaving the least verdure as he passes: for he is voracious, and requires much to fill his great belly. They have a curious manner of freeing themselves, in some measure, from this destructive animal. They remark the places he frequents most, and there lay a large quantity of pease: when the beast comes on shore, hungry and voracious, he falls to eating what is nearest him; and filling his belly with the pease, they occasion an insupportable thirst: he then returns immediately into the river, and drinks upon these dry peas large draughts of water, which suddenly causes his death; for the pease soon begin to swell with the water, and not long after the Egyptians find him dead on the shore, blown up, as if killed with the strongest poison.
5. "The oftener the river-horse goes on shore, the better hopes have the Egyptians of a sufficient swelling or increase of the Nile.
6. "The Egyptians say, they can almost distinguish the food of this animal in his excrement."
Mr Pennant in his Synopsis, p. 80. treats the enmity of the hippopotamus and crocodile as a vulgar error; an eye-witness, he tells us, declaring he had seen them swimming together without any disagreement. "They are (says he) capable of being tamed. Belon says, he has seen one so gentle as to be let loose out of a stable, and fed by its keeper, without attempting to injure any one. They are generally taken in pitfalls, and the poor people eat the flesh. In some parts, the natives place boards full of sharp irons in the corn-grounds; which these beasts strike into their feet, and so become an easy prey. Sometimes they are struck in the water with harpoons fastened to cords, and 10 or 12 canoes are employed in the chase. The teeth are most remarkably hard, even harder than ivory, and much less subject to turn yellow. Des Marchais says, that the dentists prefer them for the making of false teeth. The skin when dried is used to make bucklers, and is of impenetrable hardness. It is the behemath of Job, and was known to the Romans. An ancient writer asserts, that these animals were found in the Indus; which is not confirmed by any modern traveller."