quaintly refuted:--"In the case of an animal giving suck, the teat is
embraced round by the mouth of the young one, so that no air can pass
between; a vacuum is made, or the air is exhausted from its throat,
by a power in the lungs; nevertheless the pressure of the air remains
still upon the outside of the dug of the mother, and by these two
causes together the milk is forced in the mouth of the young one. But
a Hedgehog has no such mouth as to be able to contain the teat of a
cow; therefore any vacuum which is caused in its own throat cannot be
communicated to the milk in the dug. And if he is able to procure no
other food but what he can get by sucking cows in the night, there is
likely to be a vacuum in his stomach too." (_New Catalogue of Vulgar
Errors._ By Stephen Fovargue, A.M., 1786.) Yet, according to Sir William
Jardine, the Hedgehog is very fond of eggs; and is consequently very
mischievous in the game-preserve and hen-house.
One of the most interesting facts in the natural history of the Hedgehog
is that announced in 1831 by M. Lenz, and subsequently confirmed by
Professor Buckland: this is, that the most violent poisons have no
effect upon it; a fact which renders it of peculiar value in forests,
where it appears to destroy a great number of noxious reptiles. M. Lenz
says that he had in his house a female Hedgehog, which he kept in a
large box, and which soon became very mild and familiar. He often put
into the box some adders, which it attacked with avidity, seizing them
indifferently by the head, the body, and the tail, and not appearing
alarmed or embarrassed when they coiled themselves around its body.
On one occasion M. Lenz witnessed a fight between a Hedgehog and a
viper. When the Hedgehog came near and smelled the snake, for with
these animals the sense of sight is very obtuse, she seized it by the
head, and held it fast between her teeth, but without appearing to do
it much harm; for having disengaged its head, it assumed a furious and
menacing attitude, and, hissing vehemently, inflicted severe bites on
the Hedgehog. The animal did not, however, recoil from the bites of
the viper, or indeed seem to care much about them. At last, when the
reptile was fatigued by its efforts, she again seized it by the head,
which she ground beneath her teeth, compressing the fangs and glands of
poison, and then devouring every part of the body. M. Lenz says that
battles of this sort often occurred in the presence of many persons, and
sometimes the Hedgehog received eight or ten wounds on the ears, the
snout, and even on the tongue, without seeming to experience any of the
ordinary symptoms produced by the venom of the viper. Neither herself
nor the young which she was then suckling seemed to suffer from it. This
observation agrees with that of Pallas, who assures us that the Hedgehog
can eat about a hundred Cantharides (Spanish Flies) without experiencing
any of the effects which this insect, taken inwardly, produces on men,
dogs, and cats. A German physician, who made the Hedgehog a particular
object of study, gave it strong doses of prussic acid, of arsenic, of
opium, and of corrosive sublimate, none of which did it any harm. The
Hedgehog in its natural state only feeds on pears, apples, and other
fruits when it can get nothing it likes better.
The Hedgehog hybernates regularly, and early in the summer brings forth
from two to four young ones at a birth, which, at the time of their
production, are blind, and have the spines white, soft, and flexible.
The nest wherein they are cradled is said to be very artificially
constructed, the roof being rain-proof.
The flesh of the Hedgehog, when it has been well fed, is sweet and well
flavoured, and is eaten on the Continent in many places. In Britain a
few besides gipsies partake of it. The prickly skin appears to have been
used by the Romans for hackling hemp.
Gilbert White notes that when the Hedgehog is very young it can draw
its skin down over its face, but is not able to contract itself into a
ball, as the creature does, for the sake of defence when full grown. The
reason, White supposes, is because the curious muscle that enables the
Hedgehog to roll itself up into a ball has not then arrived at its full
tone and firmness. Hedgehogs conceal themselves for the winter in their
warm _hybernaculum_ of leaves and moss; but White could never find that
they stored in any winter provision, as some quadrupeds certainly do.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS IN ENGLAND.
In the year 1850 there was exhibited in London a living Hippopotamus,
for many centuries the only instance of this extraordinary animal being
seen in Europe.
There is something irresistibly striking in seeing a living animal,
not one of whose species we have before seen, and especially when
that animal is a large one, as in the instance before us. We had been
wonderstruck at forms of this creature in the old British Museum, where
were two finely-preserved specimens. The Rhinoceros alive was, until of
late years, very rare in England. In 1834 Mr. Cross paid some 1,500_l._
for a young Indian one-horned Rhinoceros, this being the only one
brought to England for twenty years. He proved attractive, but slightly
so in comparison with the expectation of a living Hippopotamus, never
witnessed before in this country. The circumstances of his acquisition
were as follows:--
The Zoological Society of London had long been anxious to obtain
a living Hippopotamus for their menagerie, but without success. An
American agent at Alexandria had offered 5,000_l._ for an animal of
this species, but in vain; no speculator could be induced to encounter
the risk and labour of an expedition to the White Nile for the
purpose of securing the animal. The desire of the Zoological Society
was communicated to the Viceroy of Egypt, who saw the difficulty.
Hasselquist states it to have been impossible to bring the living animal
to Cairo; and the French _savans_, attached to the expedition to Egypt,
who ascended the Nile above Syene, did not meet with one Hippopotamus.
Caillaud, however, asserts that he saw forty Hippopotami in the Upper
Nile, though their resort lay fifteen hundred miles or more from Cairo.
Here they were often shot with rifle-balls, but to take one alive was
another matter. However, by command of the Viceroy, the proper parties
were sent in search of the animal.
In August, 1849, the hunters having reached the island of Fobaysch,
on the White Nile, about 2,000 miles above Cairo, shot a large female
Hippopotamus in full chase up the river. The wounded creature turned
aside and made towards some bushes on the island bank, but sank dead in
the effort. The hunters, however, kept on towards the bushes, when a
young Hippopotamus, supposed to have been recently brought forth, not
much bigger than a new-born calf, but stouter and lower, rushed down
the bank of the river, was secured by a boatman and lifted into the
boat. The captors started with their charge down the Nile. The food of
their young animal was their next anxiety; he liked neither fish, flesh,
fruit, nor grass. The boat next stopped at a village; their cows were
seized and milked, and the young charge lapped up the produce. A good
milch cow was taken on board, and with this supply the Hippopotamus
reached Cairo. The colour of his skin at this time was a dull reddish
brown. He was shown to the Pasha in due form; the present created
intense wonder and interest in Cairo; gaping crowds filled its narrow
sandy streets, and a whale at London-bridge would scarcely excite half
so much curiosity.
It being thought safer for the animal to winter in Cairo than to proceed
forthwith on his journey, the Consul had duly prepared to receive the
young stranger, for whom he had engaged a sort of nurse. Hamet Safi
Cannana. An apartment was allotted to the Hippopotamus in the court-yard
of the Consul's house, leading to a warm or tepid bath. His milk-diet,
however, became a troublesome affair, for the new comer never drank less
than from twenty to thirty quarts daily.
By the next mail after the arrival of the Hippopotamus, the Consul
despatched the glad tidings to the Zoological Society. The animal was
shipped at Alexandria, in the Ripon steamer. On the main deck was built
a house, from which were steps down into an iron tank in the hold,
containing 400 gallons of water, as a bath: it was filled with fresh
water every other day.
Early in May, the Hippopotamus was conveyed in the canal-boat, with
Hamet Safi Cannana, to Alexandria, where the debarkation was witnessed
by 10,000 spectators. The animal bore the voyage well. He lived
exclusively on milk, of which he consumed daily about forty pints,
yielded by the cows taken on board. He was very tame, and, like a
faithful dog, followed his Arab attendant Hamet, who was seldom away
more than five minutes without being summoned to return by a loud grunt.
Hamet slept in a berth with the Hippopotamus. On May 25 they were landed
at Southampton, and sent by railway to London. On arriving at the
Zoological Society's Gardens, Hamet walked first out of the transport
van, with a bag of dates over his shoulder, and the Hippopotamus trotted
after him. Next morning he greatly enjoyed the bath which had been
prepared for him. Although scarcely twelve months old, his massive
proportions indicated the enormous power to be developed in his maturer
growth; while the grotesque expression of his physiognomy far exceeded
all that could be imagined from the stuffed specimens in museums, and
the figures which had hitherto been published from the reminiscences of
travellers.
Among the earliest visitors was Professor Owen, who first saw the
Hippopotamus lying on its side in the straw, with its head resting
against the chair in which sat the swarthy attendant. It now and then
grunted softly, and, lazily opening its thick, smooth eyelids, leered
at its keeper with a singular protruding movement of the eyeball from
the prominent socket, showing an unusual proportion of the white. The
retraction of the eyeball was accompanied by a simultaneous rolling
obliquely downwards, or inwards, or forwards. The young animal, then
ten months' old, was seven feet long, and six and a-half in girth at
the middle of the barrel-shaped trunk, supported, clear of the ground,
on very short and thick legs, each terminated by four spreading hoofs,
the two middle ones being the largest, and answering to those in the
hog. The naked hide, covering the broad back and sides, was of a dark,
india-rubber colour, with numerous fine wrinkles crossing each other,
but disposed almost transversely. The beast had just left its bath, when
a glistening secretion gave the hide, in the sunshine, a very peculiar
aspect. When the animal was younger, the secretion had a reddish colour,
and the whole surface of the hide became painted over with it every time
he quitted his bath.
The ears, which were very short, conical, and fringed with hairs, it
moved about with much vivacity. The skin around them was of a light
reddish-brown colour, and almost flesh-coloured round the eyelids,
which defended the prominent eyes, which had a few short hairs on the
margin of the upper lid. The colour of the iris was of a dark brown. The
nostrils, situated on prominences, which the animal had the power of
raising on the upper part of the broad and massive muzzle, were short
oblique slits, guarded by two valves, which were opened and closed
spontaneously, like the eyelids. The movements of these apertures were
most conspicuous when the beast was in the bath.
The wide mouth was chiefly remarkable for the upward curve of its angles
towards the eyes, giving a quaintly comic expression to the massive
countenance. The short and small milk-tusks projected a little, and the
minute incisors appeared to be sunk in pits of the thick gums; but the
animal would not permit any close examination of the teeth, withdrawing
his head from the attempt, and then threatening to bite. The muzzle was
beset with short bristles, split into tufts or pencils of hairs; and
fine and short hairs were scattered all over the back and sides. The
tail was not long, rather flattened and tapering to an obtuse point.
We may here observe that, at certain moments, the whole aspect of the
head suggested to one the idea of what may have been the semblance of
some of the gigantic extinct Batrachians (as sirens), the relics of a
former world, whose fossil bones in the galleries of Palæontology in the
British Museum excite our special wonder.
After lying about an hour, now and then raising its head, and swivelling
its eyeballs towards the keeper, or playfully opening its huge mouth,
and threatening to bite the leg of the chair on which the keeper sat,
the Hippopotamus rose, and walked very slowly about its room, and
then uttered a loud and short harsh snort four or five times in quick
succession, reminding one of the snort of a horse, and ending with an
explosive sound, like a bark. The keeper understood the language--the
animal desired to return to its bath.
The Hippopotamus carried its head rather depressed, reminding one of
a large prize hog, but with a breadth of muzzle and other features
peculiarly its own. The keeper opened the door leading into a paddock,
and walked thence to the bath, the Hippopotamus following, like a dog,
close to his heels. On arriving at the bath-room, the animal descended
with some deliberation the flight of low steps leading into the water,
stooped and drank a little, dipped his head under, and then plunged
forwards. The creature seemed inspired with new life and activity.
Sinking to the bottom of the bath, and moving about submerged for a
while, it suddenly rose with a bound almost bodily out of the water.
Splashing back, it commenced swimming and plunging about, rolling from
side to side, taking in mouthfuls of water and spirting them out again,
raising every now and then its huge and grotesque head, and biting the
woodwork of the margin of the bath. The broad rounded back of the animal
being now chiefly in view, it seemed a much larger object than when out
of the water.
After half an hour spent in this amusement, the Hippopotamus quitted
the water at the call of its keeper, and followed him back to the
sleeping-room, which was well bedded with straw, and where a stuffed
sack was provided for its pillow, of which the animal, having a very
short neck, thicker than the head, availed itself when it slept. When
awake, it was very impatient of any absence of its favourite attendant.
It would rise on its hind legs, and threaten to break down the wooden
fence, by butting and pushing against it in a way very significant of
its great muscular force. The animal appeared to be in perfect health,
and breathed, when at rest, slowly and regularly, from three to four
times in a minute. Its food was now a kind of porridge, of milk and
maize-meat, it being more than half weaned from milk diet. Its appetite
had been in no respect diminished by the confinement and inconvenience
of the sea voyage, or by change of climate. All observers appear to
have agreed that, to see the Hippopotamus rightly, is to see him in
the water. There his activity is only surpassed by that of the otter
or the seal. Such was one of the opportunities afforded to zoologists
for "studying this most remarkable and interesting African mammal, of
which no living specimen had been seen in Europe since the period when
Hippopotami were last exhibited by the third Gordian in the amphitheatre
of imperial Rome."[7]
It is now time to glance at the general economy of the Hippopotamus, as
he is seen in his native rivers and wilds. In early days, as his Roman
name imports, it was usual to consider him as a species of horse,
inhabiting rivers and marshy grounds, and, in a more especial manner,
the denizen of the Nile. The genus is placed by Linnæus among his
_belluæ_, between _equus_ and _sus_. The skeleton approaches that of the
ox and of the hog, but it presents differences from that of any other
animal.
The Hippopotamus is found not only in the Nile, but in the rivers of
southern Africa. In the former stream of marvels, Hasselquist relates
that "the oftener the River Horse goes on shore, the better hope have
the Egyptians of a sufficient swelling or increase of the Nile." Again,
they say that the River Horse is an inveterate enemy to the crocodile,
and kills it whenever he meets it; adding that he 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, for he is very voracious.
Yet neither of these stories is so marvellous as that which a sailor
related to Dampier, the old traveller:--"I have seen," says the mariner,
"one of these animals open its jaws, and, seizing a boat between its
teeth, at one bite sink it to the bottom. I have seen it, on another
occasion, place itself under one of our boats, and, rising under it,
overset it with six men who were in it, but who, however, happily
received no other injury."
Professor Smith and Captain Tuckey, in exploring the Congo River, in
South Africa, saw in a beautiful sandy cove, at the opening of a creek,
behind a long projecting point, an immense number of Hippopotami;
and in the evening a number of alligators were also seen there; an
association hardly consistent with the hostility related by Hasselquist.
Captain Tuckey observed Hippopotami with their heads above the water,
"snorting in the air." In another part of his narrative he says:--"Many
Hippopotami were visible close to our tents at Condo Yanga. No use
firing at these animals in the water; the only way is to wait till they
come on shore to feed at night."
Le Vaillant had an opportunity of watching the progress of a
Hippopotamus under water at Great River, which contained many of these
animals. On all sides he could hear them bellow and blow. Anxious to
observe them, he mounted on the top of an elevated rock which advanced
into the river, and he saw one walking at the bottom of the water. Le
Vaillant killed it at the moment when it came to the surface to breathe.
It was a very old female, and many people, in their surprise, and to
express its size, called it the Grandmother of the River.
The traveller Lander tells us that, on the Niger. Hippopotami are
termed water-elephants. One stormy night, as they were sailing up this
unexplored current, they fell in with great numbers of Hippopotami, who
came plashing, snorting, and plunging all round the canoe. Thinking
to frighten them off, the travellers fired a shot or two at them, but
the noise only called up from the water and out of the fens about as
many more Hippopotami, and they were more closely beset than before.
Lander's people, who had never, in all their lives, been exposed to
such formidable beasts, trembled with fear, and absolutely wept aloud;
whilst peals of thunder rattled over their heads, and the most vivid
lightning showed the terrifying scene. Hippopotami frequently upset
canoes in the river. When the Landers fired, every one of them came
to the surface of the water, and pursued them over to the north bank.
A second firing was followed by a loud roaring noise. However, the
Hippopotami did the travellers no kind of mischief whatever.
Captain Gordon, when among the Bakalahari, in South Africa, bagged no
fewer than fifteen first-rate Hippopotami; the greater number of them
being bulls.
In 1828, there was brought to England the head of a Hippopotamus, with
all the flesh about it, in high preservation. The animal was harpooned
while in combat with a crocodile in a lake in the interior of Africa.
The head measured nearly four feet in length, and eight feet in
circumference; the jaws opened two feet, and the cutting teeth, of which
it had four in each jaw, were above a foot long, and four inches in
circumference.
The utility of this vast pachydermatous, or thick-skinned animal, to man
is considerable. That he can be destructive has already been shown in
his clearance of the cultivated banks of rivers. The enormous ripping,
chisel-like teeth of the lower jaw fit him for uprooting. The ancient
Egyptians held the animal as an emblem of power, though this may have
arisen from his reputed destruction of the crocodile. The flesh is much
esteemed for food, both among the natives and colonists of South Africa.
The blood of the animal is said to have been used by the old Indian
painters in mixing their colours. The skin is extensively employed for
making whips.
But there is no part of the Hippopotamus more in request than the great
canine teeth, the ivory of which is so highly valued by dentists for
making artificial teeth, on account of its keeping its colour better
than any other kind. This superiority was not unknown to the ancients
Pausanias mentions the statue of Dindymene, whose face was formed of the
teeth of Hippopotami, instead of elephants' ivory. The canine teeth are
imported in great numbers into England, and sell at a very high price.
From the closeness of the ivory, the weight of the teeth, a part only of
which is available for the artificial purpose above mentioned, is great
in proportion to its bulk; and the article has fetched about thirty
shillings per pound.
The ancient history of the Hippopotamus is extremely curious, and
we have many representations of him in coins, in sculpture, and in
paintings, which prove, beyond question, that the artists, as well as
the writers, had a distinct knowledge of what they intended to represent.
The earliest notice which occurs in any author, and which has been
considered by many to be a description of the Hippopotamus, is the
celebrated account in the fortieth and forty-first chapter of the Book
of Job of Behemoth and Leviathan. Many learned men have contended that
"Behemoth" really means "Elephant," and thus the Zurich version of the
Bible translates the Hebrew by "Elephas."
In the edition of the English Bible, printed by Robert Barker, in 1615,
for King James I., and since considered as the authorised version, the
word "Behemoth" is preserved in the text, and the following annotation
is added:--"This beast is thought to bee the Elephant, or some other
which is unknowen." Bochart, Ludolph, and some others, have contended
warmly in favour of the Hippopotamus. Cuvier thinks, that though this
animal is probably intended, yet that the description is too vague for
any one to hold a certain opinion on the subject. The theory started by
Bochart, and in the main supported by Cuvier, is generally supposed the
real one. The description in the Book of Job, though doubtless vague,
and in the highest degree poetical, has yet sufficient marks to render
the identification perfectly easy, while there are certain peculiarities
mentioned, which even a poetical imagination could hardly apply to the
Elephant. Thus, when it is said of him, "He lieth under the shady trees,
in the desert of the reed and fens; ... the willows of the brook compass
him round about," this would seem to be the description of an animal
which frequented the water much more than Elephants are accustomed to
do. Again, in the fuller description of "Leviathan," in the forty-first
chapter, we think it is quite clear that a water animal is intended,
though what is there stated might be held to apply to the crocodile
as well as the Hippopotamus; both are animals remarkable for extreme
toughness of skin, and both are almost equally difficult to kill or to
take alive.