A voyage to Senegal

by Jean Baptiste Léonard Durand

The sea-horses or hippopotami which are found in all the waters of Africa, abound more particularly in the rivers which I have just mentioned: they are easier dispersed than elephants. On seeing men or hearing a noise, they quickly retire to the river from which they issued, and plunge in head-foremost; the next minute they re-appear at the surface, and neigh two or three times so loudly that they may be heard at a very great distance.

This animal, which the ancients called hippopotamus, and of which they have transmitted to us several inaccurate descriptions, is not to be found in any other part of the world. I shall therefore give a complete description of it. It resembles in several respects both the ox and the horse; and its tail is like that of a hog, except that it has no hair at the end. When it has attained its full size, it is higher, longer, and bigger, by about one third, than the largest of the French oxen; and it is not uncommon to find hippopotami which weigh from 12 to 15 cwt: its body is thick, compact, and closely covered with short brown hair, which grows grey, and, as the animal gets old, resembles that of a mouse. When in the water, this hair always shines: the head is large and stout, but it appears short or diminutive in proportion to the rest of the body, and it is quite flat. The neck is thick and short, and bears no hair till the animal gets old. This part possesses great strength, as do also the loins. The ears, though large, are small with respect to the size of the head: they are pointed, and the animal can erect or backen them like the common horse. It has a fine sense of hearing, and a penetrating sight. Its eyes are large and particularly projecting; and when it is ever so little enraged, they become red, and glare in a terrible manner. The nose is thick and turned up, and the nostrils are wide. Besides the incisors and grinders, which are very large and rather hollow in the center, the animal has four very large teeth, which serve it for weapons of defence; two being on each side like those of the boar; they are about seven or eight inches long, and nearly five inches in circumference at the root: those of the lower jaw are rather more bent than the others, and the substance of which they are composed, is whiter and infinitely harder than ivory. When the animal is enraged and gnashes its teeth, which emit sparks: this circumstance doubtless gave rise to the opinion amongst the ancients that the sea-horse vomited fire. It is certain that these teeth when struck against a bit of steel, produce sparks, as readily as a flint.

The hippopotamus has no horns, its feet and teeth being the only weapons with which nature has provided it; its legs are thick, fleshy, and of a tolerable size; the foot is cleft like that of oxen; but the pasterns or knees are too weak to support the weight of the body: nature, however, has provided against this defect by supplying the fetlock with two little horny substances, which tend to support the animal while walking; it thus leaves upon the ground, at every step, the impression of the four horns, which must have made the ancients think that its claws were similar to those of the crocodile, as they have depicted it to us. The hippopotamus walks tolerably quick when it is pressed, and if it find a level and rather hard soil; but it can never overtake a horse, nor even a light-made man, as are all the Negroes who hunt it for amusement.

The skin of the river-horse is uncommonly hard, particularly that which covers the neck, the back, the hind part of the thighs, and the rump, insomuch that balls only slip along it, and arrows recoil. It is, however, much thinner, and consequently more easy to perforate, under the belly and between the thighs; in these parts, therefore, the hunters attempt to wound it.

The river-horse is amphibious: it is frequently seen in the sea; but we know that it does not proceed far from the coast or fresh water, as it requires for its existence to be near meadows and cultivated lands. It has been observed to walk much faster in the water than on land, as the former supports it, and assists the progress of its heavy body; nevertheless, it cannot stay in the fluid for a length of time, or as long as it can remain on land. The time which it has been ascertained to keep under water, is about half or three quarters of an hour; after which it is obliged to come to land for the purpose of free respiration.

It sleeps ashore amongst the rushes and thickets with which the banks of the river are covered; and in such parts the females drop their young, and give them suck. As soon as they see any object or hear the least noise, they throw themselves into the water, and the young ones follow the dam. The female generally bears four at a time, and breeds once a year; so that the number of these animals in the Bissagos and the neighbouring rivers, is not astonishing.

The hippopotamus feeds both on fish and on such land animals as it can take by surprise; because the weight of its body does not enable it to run them down. It has been asserted that it eats human flesh; but all the accounts which I have received, tend to refute this opinion. Besides animals and fish, we know that it eats the grass of the fields, and particularly rice, millet, peas, melons, and other vegetables, as its voracity is not easily satiated. The Negroes keep it away from their grounds by the means of noises and fires: for it makes more devastation with its feet in a piece of cultivated ground than by what it eats; and if it take a fancy to sleep in such a spot, the harvest is thereby entirely destroyed.

It is while the animal thus reposes that the natives most easily destroy it by approaching in a gentle manner; and it betrays itself by its loud snoring. The Negroes take a pleasure in attacking it, on account of their agility; but they take care not to hunt it, except it be at a distance from a river to which they can prevent its return; but if it be wounded and cannot reach the water, which it searches for with more eagerness than it defends itself against the hunters, it becomes furious, and then it would be imprudent to approach it. It is very tenacious of life, and never yields it without much struggle. The hunters endeavour to break its legs with musket-balls; and if they once cause it to fall, they kill it with ease. If, however, on such an occasion, it succeed in gaining a river, it plunges headlong in; and after remaining for an instant at the bottom, it appears again at the surface, pricks up its ears, and looks about in every direction, as if in search of those who had forced it to quit the pasture; it then neighs, and plunges again to the bottom, which it reaches, whatever may be its depth, where it doubtless remains more safe, and perhaps more at its ease than it would be between two bodies of water. There is some danger in attacking it on the rivers: for if the hunters miss their aim, it tries to avenge itself, and often does great injury to the boats which are in pursuit of it.

This animal indeed does not want a certain degree of instinct: for example, it evacuates much blood, and it is asserted that it often bleeds itself; for this purpose it looks out for a sharp point of rock, which is not rare on the banks of rivers, and against this it rubs itself quickly till the friction produces an aperture capable of admitting the passage of the blood; and it is said to observe the discharge with attention and pleasure, and even to agitate itself when the stream is not sufficiently copious; but when it thinks that enough has been emitted, it goes to lie down in the mud, and thus closes up the wound.

The Negroes of Angola, Congo, and the eastern coasts of Africa, consider the river-horse, which they call Fetiso, as a diminutive of some divinity, notwithstanding which they eat it. The other Negroes also think the flesh excellent. The Portuguese, who are rigid observers of Lent and fast days, pretend that it is a fish, and as such they eat it. They are doubtless in the right, as they find it very palatable. Europeans, on the contrary, have much difficulty in accommodating themselves to such a repast, as they find it to possess a gross taste and strong smell.