'776- about the anus,, and likewife a good way up in the ftrait ¿¿rysj gut,, where, by a timely abftraétion of the blood, they may be of ufe to thefe large amphibious animals; and particularly may adt as prefervatives againft the piles, repaying themfelves for their trouble in kind. Moft of them were very fmall, but on the other hand there was a coniiderable number of them. The only large one I faw of this fpecies,. b.eing fomewhat more than an inch in length, I defcribed and made a drawing o f ;. this is inferted by the name o f the Hirudo Capenjis, corpore fupra nigricante, medio longitu- dinaliterfub-brunneo, fubtus pallidé fufco, in the elegant trea- tife on worms, which M. A d o l p h u s N o d e e r , firft fecretary o f the Patriotic Society, is preparing for the prefs. Inftead o f the lighter coloured ftreak upon the back, there was difcoverable in fome of thefe leeches, one;, and fometimes two longitudinal brownilh lines, which grew fainter and fainter towards the extremities. The huge animal, of which we have been fpeaking, has doubtlefs obtained its prefent ñamé of hippopotamus, which fignifi.es river-horfe, merely in confequence of the neighing found it makes; as otherwife in its form it bears not the leaft. refemblance to a horfe, but rather to a hog. Neither does it in the leaft refemble the o x ; fo. it could be only the different ftomachs of this animal, Which could occafion it to be called Jea-cow, at the Cape; and, perhaps, it is for the fame reafon, that the Hottentots call it the i! gao, which nearly approaches to f kau, the name by which the. buffalo is known among thefe people. From the account given by B e l l o n iu s o f a tame hippopotamus,, which h.e defcribes as. a beaft of a very mild and and gentle nature, as well as from the difpofition of the fcalf we had juft caught, it follows, that this animal might be eafily brought over to Europe, where it has been formerly exhibited at two different times in the public fpeftacles at Rome. (Vid. P l i n . lib. 8. and D i o n . C a s s . lib. u . ) For this purpofe, the capture might eafieft be made at Konaps- river, where thefe animals, according to the accounts given me by the Caffres, refide in great abundance; and milch- uows might be kept ready at hand, in order to rear the calf, in cafe it was a fuckling. Indeed, I am apt to fuppofe, that one a little older than this, would not be very nice in its food; as that which we caught, was.induced by hunger, as foon as it was let loofe near the waggon, to put up with fomething not extremely delicate, which had been juft dropped from one of our oxen. This, perhaps, may appear very extraordinary in an animal with four ftomachs; but there have been inftances of this kind known in common cattle, which in Herjedal are partly fed with horfe- dung' . (Vid. A . A . H u l p h e r s ’ s Bejkrifning om Norrland, 3:je Sami, om Herjedalen, page 27— 87.) I have been likewife allured, that this method of feeding cattle has been pradtifed with great advantage in Uplandia, when there has been a fcarcity of fodder; and that afterwards thefe fame cattle, even when they~have not been in want of proper fodder, have taken to this food of their own accord, and eaten it without any thing elfe being mixed with it. At noon the temperature of the air was, according to Fahrenheit’s thermometer, 104 degrees; and the heat of 1776. Januar/. * H u l p h e r ’ s Defcription of Norway«
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