>7?6- memory» fo that no great dependence is to be placed upon January. them. The mouth of the hippopotamus is fo large, that though a full third of the enormous tuiks above-mentioned in the lower jaw, as well as feveralof the fore teeth which project forwards, ftands above the gums, yet they are not feen except when the animal opens his mouth. The hide of the adult hippopotamus bears a great re- femblance to that of the rhinocéros,, but is rather thicker. Whips likewife made o f this hide are ftronger, and, after being ufed fome time, are more pliable than thofe made o f the hide of the rhinoceros ufually are, though they, are not fo tranfparent as thefeTatter are when new. The food of the hippopotamus confifts entirely in herbs and grafs, acircumftanceof which we are informed by Father L obo; and which may partly be inferred from what I have already faid on the fubjeét, as well as from the-figure.of the ftomach belonging to the foetus of a hippopotamus given in Meffrs. de Buffon and D aubenton’s elegant work. I therefore do not look upon it as very probable, that thefe animals, agreeably to the alfer-tions of M. de Buffon , page 93, or of D ampier in his voyage, ihould hunt after fifh by way of preying upon them ; especially as in fome o f the rivers of the fouthern part o f Africa, where the fea- cows are feen daily and in great abundance, there is. not a fifh to be feen ; and in others only a few bqflard fpringettsy as they are called, (cyprinus gonorynchus) which are fcarce- ly as big as a common herring. It is faid, that a fmall fpecies of carp is hill more rarely to. be met with here.. It is is true, that the fea-cows fometimes frequent the mouths of January. the rivers here, w’hich are full of fea-fifh, and even fome- o v o times the fea itfelf: we know, however, that thefe huge quadrupeds are notwithftanding this, obliged to go from thence upon dry land in queft of food. Neither is it probable that they can drink the fea-water; as an inftance was related to me of the contrary in a hippopotamus, which, having been difturbed in the rivers, had taken refuge in the fea, and yet was' obliged to go aihore every night and drink frefh water from a well in the neighbourhood, till at laft it was ihot by fome people that lay in wait for it there. That the hippopotamufes actually lived in falt-water, I have feen evident proofs at the mouths both of Kronline and Catn- tour rivers, particularly in the latter, on my journey homewards; where many of thefe animals bio wed themfelves in broad day-light, and thruft their heads up above the water; and one of them in particular, which had been wounded by an ill-dire<5ted ihot on the nofe, neighed from anger and refentment. In Krakekamma I faw on the beach manifeft traces of a hippopotamus which had come out. of the fea, but had retired thither again dire£tly. That very attentive navigator Captain B u r t z informed me, that he had _ frequently feen; on the eaftern coaft of Africa fea-horfes (meaning probably the hippopotamus) raife their heads above the furface of the water, in order to blow themfelves and neigh. I have been induced to be, rather cir- cumftantial on this fubjedf, as . M; A d a n s o n has taken it into his head, in his Voyage, au _Se)ieg_al, to limit the abode of the hippopotamus to the frelh water rivers only in Africa; and M. d e B u f f o n has taken upon him to fupport this opinion.
27f 72-2
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