Though I was at first much disconcerted at the appearance of our very primitive looking craft, I soon got accustomed to it, and it proved far more comfortable than might have been supposed. It was much safer, moreover, than our own canoes, one or two of which we obtained shortly after our departure. No efforts were made to steer or propel the raft, which was left entirely to the stream. As soon as we were caught by some projecting reed-bed—and this was of frequent occurrence—the raft immediately swung round and thus disengaged itself; but when we came in contact with trees overhanging the river, we were more inconvenienced; for, before we could get clear of them, ourselves and baggage were at times nearly swept into the water. In this manner, nevertheless, and without serious accident, we accomplished about one hundred and fifty miles in nine days, entirely by the force of the current, which rarely exceeded two miles an hour.
While descending the Teoge we met several parties of natives in pursuit of the hippopotamus; the men were embarked on rafts similarly constructed as our own. But, before describing the manner in which the chase is conducted by these people, it may be proper to say a few words regarding the natural history of the above animal.
“Behold now behemoth which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox: his bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron; he lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow: the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river; he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes; his nose pierceth through snares.”
The above grand and figurative language of the book of Job seems particularly applicable to the hippopotamus, whom most people believe to be identical with the behemoth of the sacred writer. Indeed, in his “Systema Naturæ,” Linnæus ends his description of the hippopotamus with calling it the “Behemot Jobi.”
The hippopotamus is generally distributed in the large rivers and lakes of Africa, from the confines of the Cape Colony to about the 22d or 23d degree of north latitude. It is found in none of the African rivers that fall into the Mediterranean except the Nile, and in that part of it only which runs through Upper Egypt, or in the fens and lakes of Ethiopia. It is, however, receding fast before civilization. It inhabits both fresh and salt water.
Formerly, there is every reason to believe it existed in parts of Asia; but the species is now extinct on that continent.
There are said to be two species of hippopotami in Africa, namely, the hippopotamus amphibius and the hippopotamus Liberiensis, the latter being described as very much the smaller of the two; but, to the best of my belief, I never fell in with it.
The hippopotamus is a most singular-looking animal, and has not inaptly been likened to a “form intermediate between an overgrown hog and a high-fed bull without horns and with cropped cars.” It has an immensely large head. Ray says the upper mandible is movable, as with the crocodile. Each of its jaws is armed with two formidable tusks; those in the lower, which are always the largest, attain, at times, two feet in length. The inside of the mouth has been described by a recent writer as resembling “a mass of butcher’s meat.” The eyes—which Captain Harris likens “to the garret windows of a Dutch cottage”—the nostrils and ears, are all placed nearly on the same plane, which allows the use of three senses, and of respiration, with a very small portion of the animal being exposed when it rises to the surface of the water. The size of its body is not much inferior to that of the elephant, but its legs are much shorter—so low, indeed, is the animal at times in the body that the belly almost touches the ground. The hoofs are divided into four parts, unconnected by membranes. The skin, which is of nearly an inch in thickness, is destitute of covering, excepting a few scattered hairs on the muzzle, edges of the ears, and tail. The color of the animal, when on land, is of a purple brown; but when seen at the bottom of a pool it appears altogether different, viz., of a dark blue, or, as Dr. Burchell describes it, of a light hue of Indian ink.
When the hippopotamus is enraged, its appearance is most forbidding and appalling, and I am not surprised to hear of people losing their presence of mind on being suddenly brought into contact with the monster, whose horrible jaws, when fully distended, afford ample accommodation for a man.[95]
The size of the H. amphibius is enormous. The adult male attains a length of eleven or twelve feet, the circumference of its body being nearly the same. Its height, however, seldom much exceeds four and a half feet. The female is a good deal smaller than the male, but in general appearance the sexes are nearly alike.