After he was chained I filled a half barrel with hay, and set it near him for his bed. He recognised its use at once, and it was pretty to see him shake up the hay and creep into this nest when he was tired. At night he always shook it up, and then took some hay in his hands, with which he would cover himself when he was snug in his barrel. He often moaned, for his mother perhaps, at night.
After Joe died I stuffed his body, and brought his skin and skeleton to New York, where many saw it. Around his neck, where the chain had been, the hair was worn off.
Poor Joe! I wish he had lived and become tame, so that I could have brought him home with me to show the children.
Now poor Joe can be seen stuffed in the British Museum.
HIPPOPOTAMI AT HOME.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS—A DUEL—SHOOTING ON THE RIVER—NEARLY UPSET—A NIGHT-HUNT ON LAND—MY COMPANION FIRES AND RUNS—APPEARANCE AND HABITS OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.