Though the Hippopotamus has been celebrated from the earliest ages;
though mentioned in the sacred writings under the name of _behemoth_,
and though his figure is engraved upon the obelisks of Egypt, and on
the Roman medals; yet he was but imperfectly known to the ancients.
Aristotle scarcely mentions him, and in the little he does say,
there are more errors than facts. Pliny copied Aristotle, and far
from correcting, adds to the number of his errors. It was only
towards the middle of the sixteenth century that we had any precise
information concerning this animal; Belon being then at Constantinople,
saw a living one; of which, however, he has given but an imperfect
representation, for the two figures which he has joined to his
description, were not taken from the hippopotamus he has seen, but were
copied from the reverse of a medal of the Emperor Adrian, and from the
colossus of the Nile at Rome; so that we must carry the epoch of the
knowledge of this animal to the year 1603, when Frederico Zerenghi,
a surgeon of Narni, in Italy, printed at Naples, the history of two
of these animals, which he had killed in Egypt, in a great ditch he
had caused to be dug in the environs of the Nile, near Damietta. This
little work was written in Italian, and appears to have been neglected
by his contemporary and succeeding naturalists; notwithstanding,
it is the only good and original one on the subject, and has so
strong pretensions to credit, that I shall here give an extract and
translation from it.
"With a view of obtaining an hippopotamus, (says Zerenghi) I suborned
the people about the Nile, (who had seen two of these animals come
from the river) to dig a large pit in the place where they passed
over, and to cover it with light wood, earth, and grass. Returning
in the evening to the river, they both fell into the pit. The people
came immediately and acquainted me with the event, and I hastened
thither with my Janissary. We killed both the animals by firing three
charges from a large arquebuse into each of their heads. They expired
immediately, uttering a doleful cry, which more resembled the bellowing
of a buffalo, than the neighing of a horse. This exploit was performed
on the 20th of July, 1600. The following day I had them drawn out of
the pit, and skinned with care; the one was a male and the other a
female. I had both the skins salted, and filled with the leaves of
the sugar cane, in order to transport them to Cairo, where I had them
salted a second time with greater attention and more convenience. In
doing of which we used near 400lbs. of salt to each skin. At my return
from Egypt, in 1601, I brought these skins to Venice, and from thence
to Rome. I shewed them to many learned physicians. Doctor Jerome
Aquapendente and the celebrated Aldrovandus, were the only persons who
knew them to be the skins of the hippopotamus; and as the work of
Aldrovandus was then printing, he had (with my consent) a figure drawn
from the skin of the female, which he has given with his book.
"The hippopotamus has a very thick and hard skin; it is impenetrable,
unless it be soaked some time in water: the mouth is not, as the
ancients have said, of a moderate size, but enormously large; neither
are his feet as they say, divided into two hoofs, but into four. His
size is not that of an ass, for he is much bigger than the largest
horse, or buffalo; he has not a tail like that of the hog, but rather
that of the tortoise, except being incomparably larger; his mouth or
nose is not elevated, but resembles that of the buffalo, and is much
larger; he has no mane like the horse, but only some short hairs; he
does not neigh like the horse, but his voice is between the bellowing
of the buffalo, and the neighing of the former. His teeth do not jut
out of his mouth, for when it is shut, the teeth, although extremely
large, are all hid under the lips. The inhabitants of this part of
Egypt call him _foras l'bar_, which signifies a _sea-horse_. Belon is
much deceived in his description of this animal, he attributes to him
teeth like those of a horse, which would induce me to think he had
never seen him, although, as he tells us he had, for the teeth of the
hippopotamus are very large and very singular. To clear up every doubt
and uncertainty, continues Zerenghi, I have here given the figure of
the female hippopotamus; every proportion has been taken exactly after
nature, as well as the measure of its body and limbs.
"The length of this hippopotamus, from the extremity of the upper lip
to the beginning of the tail, is nearly eleven feet two inches.[O]
[O] This measurement is according, to Paris feet and inches.
"The circumference of the body is about ten feet.
"The height, from the bottom of the foot to the top of the back, is
four feet five inches.
"The circumference of the legs near the shoulders is two feet nine
inches; and taken lower, is one foot nine inches and a half.
"The height of the legs, from the bottom of the feet to the breast, is
one foot ten inches and a half.
"The length of the feet, from the extremity of the nails, is about four
inches and a half.--_Note._ I have taken the medium measure between the
two that Zerenghi gives, for the length of the feet.
"The nails are as long as they are broad, being rather more than two
inches.
"There is one nail on each toe, and four toes on each foot.
"The skin upon the back is nearly an inch, and that upon the belly
about half an inch thick.
"The skin is so hard when dried, that it cannot be pierced by a musket
shot. The people of the country make great shields of it, and cut it
into thongs or kind of whips. On the surface of the skin there are a
few very fine hairs of a greyish colour, and which cannot be perceived
at first sight; on the neck there are some longer, but they are all
placed one by one, more or less distant from each other; but on the
lips they form a kind of mustachio: for there springs out ten or twelve
of them from the same points; these hairs are of the same colour as the
rest, they are only harder, thicker, and somewhat longer, though the
longest is not more than half an inch.
"The length of the tail is rather more than eleven inches, and its
circumference, taken at the beginning, is something more than a foot,
and at its extremity, is two inches and upwards.
"The tail is not round, but from the middle to the end is flat, like
an eel. Upon the tail and the thighs, there are some round scales of
a whitish colour, broad as a French bean; these small scales are also
seen upon the breast, the neck, and upon some parts of the head.
"The head, from the extremity of the lips to the beginning of the neck,
is two feet four inches, and its circumference about five feet eight
inches.
"The ears are two inches and near an half long, more than two inches in
breadth, are a little pointed, and furnished on the inside with thick,
short, and fine hairs, of the same colour as the others.
"The space between each angle of the eyes is two inches and upwards,
and from one eyelid to the other, is one inch and one line.
"The nostrils are two inches four lines long, and little more than one
inch broad.
"The mouth, when open, measures about one foot six inches; it is of a
square form, and furnished with forty-four teeth of different shapes.
All these teeth are so hard, that they strike fire with steel. The
enamel of the canine teeth in particular, have this hardness; the
interior substance being not so hard. When the hippopotamus keeps his
mouth shut there are no teeth to be seen, for the lips, which are
extremely large, completely cover them.
"In respect to the figure of this animal, it may be said to be
constructed between that of the buffalo and hog, because it
participates of both, except the incisive teeth, which have no
resemblance to those of either of these animals. The grinders are a
little like those of the buffalo or horse, but much larger. The colour
of the body is dark and blackish. It is affirmed that the hippopotamus
produces but one young at a birth; that he lives on fish, crocodiles,
and even the flesh of dead bodies; however, he eats rice, grain, &c.
though on considering his teeth, we should conclude that Nature had not
made him for grazing, but for the destruction of other animals."
Zerenghi finishes his description by affirming that all the above
measures were taken from the female hippopotamus, whom the male
perfectly resembled, excepting that he was a third bigger in all his
dimensions. It were to be wished that the figure given by Zerenghi had
been as good as his description; but the drawing was not taken while
this animal was living, but from the skin of the female. It appears
also, that it was from this same skin preserved in salt, that Fabius
Columna designed his figure; but the description Columna has given,
is not so good as that of Zerenghi's, and he must be reproached for
only quoting the name and not a word about the work of this author,
though published three years before his own: he must also be accused of
swerving from his description in many essential points, without giving
any reason for it; for example, Columna says, that in his time, in
1603, Frederico Zerenghi brought from Egypt to Italy an hippopotamus
preserved in salt, while Zerenghi himself says, he brought only the
skin. Columna also gives to his hippopotamus thirteen feet in length,
to the circumference fourteen, and the legs three feet and a half long;
while the measures of Zerenghi makes the length of the body but eleven
feet two inches, the circumference ten, and the legs one foot ten
inches and a half, &c. We must not, therefore, rely on the description
of Columna; nor excuse him upon the supposition that he took it from
another subject; for it is evident, from his own words, that he made it
from the smallest of Zerenghi's two hippopotami; since he acknowledges
that some months after Zerenghi shewed a second hippopotamus much
larger than the first. What makes me so strenuous on this point is,
that no one has rendered justice to Zerenghi, who, notwithstanding,
is the only person who deserves eulogiums on this subject. On the
contrary, every naturalist, for this hundred and sixty years, have
attributed to Fabius Columna what they should have given to Zerenghi;
and instead of searching for the work of the last they have set down
contented with copying and applauding that of Columna's, who, however
deserving of praise in other respects is, upon this, neither original,
exact, nor even honest.
The description and figures of the hippopotamus that Prosper Alpinus
published more than a hundred years after, are still worse than those
of Columna, having been drawn from skins but badly preserved; and M. de
Jussieu, who wrote of the hippopotamus in 1724, has only described the
skeleton of the head and feet.
By comparing these descriptions, and especially that of Zerenghi,
with the information we have drawn from travellers, the hippopotamus
appears to be an animal whose body is longer and as thick as that of
the rhinoceros; that his legs are much shorter; that his head is not
so long, but larger in proportion to his body: that he has no horns,
either on the nose like the rhinoceros, or on the head like the
ruminating animals. His cry when hurt, according to ancient and modern
travellers, resembles the neighing of a horse and the bellowing of the
buffalo; his usual voice may be like the neighing of a horse, from
which, however, he differs in every other respect. If thus be the fact,
we may presume that this resemblance in the voice has been the reason
for giving him the name of _hippopotamus_, which signifies the _river
horse_, as the howling of the lynx, which resembles that of the wolf,
occasioned him to be called the _lupus cervarius_. The cutting teeth of
the hippopotamus, and especially the two canine of the lower jaw, are
very long, and so hard and strong that they strike fire with a piece of
steel. This is probably what, gave rise to the fable of the ancients,
that the hippopotamus vomited fire: these canine teeth are so white,
so clean, and so hard, that they are preferable to ivory for making
artificial teeth. The cutting teeth, especially those of the lower jaw,
are very long, cylindrical and furrowed; the canine teeth are also very
long, crooked, prismatic, and sharp, like the tusks of a boar: the
grinders are square, or rather oblong, nearly like those of a man, and
so large that a single one weighs more than three pounds; the largest
of the cutting, and the canine teeth are twelve and even sixteen
inches in length, and sometimes weigh twelve or thirteen pounds each.
In short, to give a just idea of the size of the hippopotamus we shall
make use of Zerenghi's measures, increasing them one third, because his
measures were taken from the female, who was one third less than the
male in all her dimensions. This male hippopotamus was consequently
sixteen feet nine inches long, from the extremity of the muzzle to the
beginning of the tail; fifteen feet in circumference, and six feet and
a half in height; his legs were about two feet ten inches long; the
length of the head three feet and a half, and eight feet and a half in
circumference ; the width of the mouth two feet four inches, and the
largest teeth more than a foot long.
Thus powerfully armed, and with such prodigious strength of body, he
might render himself formidable to every animal; but he is naturally
gentle, and is besides so heavy and slow that he could not outrun any
other quadruped. He swims quicker than he runs, pursues the fish, and
makes them his prey. He delights much in the water, and lives in it
as freely as upon land, yet he has no membranes between his toes like
the beaver and otter, and it is plain, that the great ease with which
he swims is owing to the great capacity of his body, which makes his
specific gravity nearly equal to the water. Besides, he remains a long
time under water, and walks at the bottom as well as in the open air;
and when he quits it to graze upon land he eats sugar-canes, rushes,
millet, rice, roots, &c. of which he consumes great quantities, and
does much injury to cultivated lands; but as he is more timid on land
than in the water he is very easily driven away, and his legs are so
short that he cannot save himself by flight, if he be far from any
water. His resource, when in danger, is to plunge into the water, and
proceed under it to a great distance before he reappears. He commonly
retreats from his pursuers, when hunted, but if wounded he becomes
irritated, and faces about with great fury, rushes against the boats,
seizes them with his teeth, tears pieces off, and sometimes sinks them.
"I have seen, says a traveller,[P] an hippopotamus open his mouth, fix
one tooth on the gunnel of a boat, and another on the second plank
under the keel (that is at least four feet distant), pierce the side
through and through, and in this manner sink the boat. I have seen
one lying by the side of the sea-shore, upon whom the waves tossed a
Dutch boat heavily laden, and then retreating left it dry on his back,
and which was afterwards carried off again by another wave, without
the animal appearing to have received the least injury. I could not
discover the exact arrangement of his teeth, but they appear to form
the figure of a bow, and were about sixteen inches long. We fired
several times at one of them, but the shot rebounded from his skin.
The natives consider him as a kind of deity, and that he cannot be
destroyed, and frequently declare, if they were to use him as we do he
would soon be the destruction of their nets and canoes. When they go
a fishing in their canoes, and meet with an hippopotamus, they throw
fish to him, and then he passes on without disturbing their fishery
any more. He does the most injury when he can rest himself against the
earth, but when he floats in the water he can only bite. Once, when
our boat lay near the shore, I saw one of them get underneath, lift
her above water upon his back, and overset her with six men aboard,
but fortunately they received no hurt."----"We dare not, says another
traveller, irritate the hippopotamus in the water, since an adventure
that had nearly proved fatal to three men; they had proceeded in a
small canoe to attack one in a river where there was about ten feet
water; they discovered him walking at the bottom, according to his
usual custom, and wounded him with a long lance, upon which he rose
immediately to the surface of the water, looked at them with a dreadful
aspect, and, at one bite, took a great piece out of the side of the
canoe, which had very nearly overturned it, and it was with difficulty
they could make the shore." These two examples are sufficient to give
an idea of the strength of these animals; and a number of like facts
are to be met with in the General History of Voyages, by the Abbé
Prevost, who has given a summary of whatever travellers have reported
concerning the hippopotamus.
[P] Dampier, vol. II.
These animals are not numerous, except in particular places, and it
even appears that they are confined to the rivers of Africa. The
greatest part of naturalists have said, that the hippopotamus is
to be found also in the Indies, but the evidence they have of this
circumstance is very equivocal; the most positive would be that of
Alexander, in his letter to Aristotle, if we could assure ourselves,
that the animals of which Alexander speaks, were really hippopotami.
What occasions me to have some doubts on this head is, that Aristotle,
in describing the hippopotamus in his history of animals, must have
said, that they were natives of India, as well as Egypt, if he had
thought that the animal, of which Alexander speaks in his letter,
had been the true hippopotamus. Onesicritus, and some other authors,
say the hippopotamus is to be found in the river Indus, but modern
travellers, at least those who merit most confidence, have not
confirmed this fact; they all agree, that this animal is found in the
Nile, the Senegal, or Niger, the Gambia, the Zara, and other great
rivers and lakes of Africa, especially in the southern and eastern
parts. Father Boyn is the only one who seems to insinuate that the
hippopotamus is to be met with in Asia, but his recital appears
suspicious, and I think only proves that he is common in Mosambique,
and all the eastern parts of Africa. At present the hippopotamus, which
is called the _Nile-horse_, is so rare in the lower Nile, that the
inhabitants of Egypt have no idea of the name. He is equally unknown in
all the northern parts of Africa, from the Mediterranean to the Bamboo
river, which flows at the foot of Mount Atlas; the climate which the
hippopotamus actually inhabits, therefore extends only from Senegal to
Ethiopia, and from thence to the Cape of Good Hope.
As most authors have called the hippopotamus the _sea-horse_, or
_sea-cow_, it has sometimes been confounded with the latter, which is
a very different animal, and which only inhabits the northern seas. It
appear, then, to be certain, that the hippopotami, which the author of
the description of Muscovy says are found upon the borders of the sea
of Petzora, are no other than sea-cows, and Aldrovandus merits reproach
for adopting this opinion without examination, and asserting that the
hippopotamus is found in the northern seas: for he not only does not
inhabit the north seas, but it appears that he is rarely found in those
of the south. The testimonies of Odoardus, Barbossa, and Edward Wotton,
recounted by Aldrovandus, and which seem to prove that the hippopotamus
inhabits the Indian seas, appear to be almost as equivocal as that
in the description of Muscovy; and I am inclined to believe that the
hippopotamus is not to be found, at least at present, but in the
greatest rivers of Africa. Kolbe, who says, he has seen many of them
at the Cape of Good Hope, affirms, that they equally plunge themselves
into the sea and rivers, and which is asserted by other authors.
Although Kolbe appears to be more exact than common in his description
of the hippopotamus, yet it is doubtful whether he saw it so often as
he says, since the figure he has joined to his description is worse
than those of Columna, Aldrovandus, and Prosper Alpinus, which are
all drawn from stuffed skins. It is easy to discover that the figures
and description in Kolbe's works, have neither been made on the spot,
nor taken from Nature. His descriptions are written from memory, and
most of the figures been copied from those of other naturalists; the
figure which he gives of the hippopotamus, in particular, bears a great
resemblance to the cheropotamus of Prosper Alpinus.
Kolbe, therefore, in affirming, that the hippopotamus lives in the
sea, might possibly have copied Pliny, and not spoken from his own
observations. Most other authors tell us, that this animal is only to
be found in the fresh water lakes and in rivers, sometimes at their
mouths, but oftener at a great distance from the sea. There are even
travellers, who, like Merollo, are surprised, that the hippopotamus
should have been called the sea-horse, because, say they, this animal
cannot bear salt water. He commonly remains all day under water, and
only quits it at night to graze upon land. The male and female rarely
separate. Zerenghi caught both male and female the same day, and in
the same ditch. Dutch travellers say, that they bring forth three or
four young at a time, but this fact appears to me very suspicious from
the evidence which Zerenghi has mentioned. Besides, as the hippopotamus
is of an enormous bulk, he is in the class of the elephant, rhinoceros,
whale, and all other large animals, who bring forth but one at a time;
and this analogy appears to me more certain than all the suppositious
testimonies of different travellers.