Herodotus, Aristotle, Diodorus, and Pliny have all given descriptions
more or less correct of the hippopotamus, river-horse, or zeekoe
(sea-cow) of the South African Dutch.
So great has been the interest taken in this animal, of which European
people have long read, but never until lately seen, that the Zoological
Society cleared 10,000 pounds in the year of the Great Exhibition of
1851, by their specimens exhibited in the gardens at Regent's Park.
Hippopotami procured from Northern Africa were not uncommon in the Roman
spectacles. Afterwards, the knowledge of them became lost to Europe for
several hundred years; and, according to the authority of several
writers, they entirely disappeared from the Nile.
Several centuries after they had been shown in Rome and Constantinople,
it was stated that hippopotami could not be transported alive to a
foreign country; but the progress of civilisation has refuted this
erroneous hypothesis, and the harsh, heavy sound of its voice, since
May, 1850, has been familiar to the frequenters of a London park.
According to Michael Boyn, the hippopotamus has been found in the rivers
of China. Marsden has placed them in Sumatra, and others say they exist
in the Indus, but these statements have never been sustained by
well-authenticated facts, and the creature is now believed to be
exclusively a native of Africa.
Monsieur Desmoulins describes two species,--one the _H. Capensis_, or
the hippopotamus of the Cape, and the _H. Senegalensis_ of the Senegal
river.
How the animal obtained its name would be difficult to imagine, since a
quadruped more unlike a horse could hardly exist.
When in the water, the hippopotamus can place its eyes, ears, and nose
on a level with the surface, and thus see, hear, and breathe, with but
little danger of being injured by a shot. It is often ferocious in this
element, where it can handle itself with much ease; but on dry land it
is unwieldy, and, conscious of its awkwardness, it is rather timid and
sometimes cowardly.
These huge creatures are supposed to serve a good purpose by uprooting
and destroying large water-plants that might otherwise obstruct the
current of the stream and hinder the drainage of the surrounding
country.
The hide of the hippopotamus is used by the natives for many purposes.
Although soft when stripped off, it becomes so hard, when thoroughly
dry, that the Africans manufacture spears and shields of it.
Many of the Cape colonists are very fond of what they call "zeekoe
speek," which is a portion of the flesh salted and preserved.
The greatest value which the hippopotamus has, in the eyes of man, is
found in its teeth,--its large canine tusks being the finest ivory
known, and much prized by the dentists. It keeps its colour much
better, and lasts longer than any other used in the manufacture of
artificial teeth.
Tusks of the hippopotamus are sometimes found sixteen inches in length,
and weighing as much as a dozen pounds. Travellers have even affirmed
that some have been seen measuring twenty-six inches in length; but no
specimens of this size have as yet been exhibited in the museums of
Europe.
The hide of a full-grown hippopotamus is thicker than that of the
rhinoceros; otherwise, it very much resembles the latter. Its thickness
protects the animal against the poisoned arrows and javelins of the
natives. But for this, it would soon become extinct in the rivers of
Africa, since, unlike most animals, there is no difficulty in
approaching the hippopotamus within bow-shot distance. It can only be
killed by the natives after a great deal of trouble combined with
ingenuity.
The plan generally adopted is, by digging pits in places where the
hippopotami are known to pass in leaving the water to feed on the
herbage of the neighbouring plain. These pits have to be dug in the
rainy season, when the ground is soft; for during the dry months the
earth becomes so hard as to resist the poor implement used by the
natives in place of a spade. The pit is concealed with much care, and
as months may pass without a hippopotamus straying into the trap, it may
be imagined how strong an effort of perseverance and patience is
required in capturing one of these amphibious creatures.
Another method of killing them is by suspending heavy pointed beams over
their paths, where they proceed from the river to the meadows adjoining.
These beams are elevated thirty or forty feet high, by a line which
extends across the sea-cow's track. This line is connected with a
trigger, and when rudely dragged by the force of the moving body, the
beam descends upon the animal's back, burying the sharp point in its
flesh.
The use of fire-arms is now becoming general among the natives of
Africa; and, as the value of hippopotamus ivory well repays the trouble
of procuring it, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the ungainly
animal, now one of the commonest sights in the rivers of Southern
Africa, will soon become one of the rarest.