The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-07
THE VANISHING H1ppopoTAMUs

THE VANISHING HIPPOPOTAMUS
The last hippopatamus has been
slaughtered in Natal. All the larger
and more curious creatures are disap-
pearing so fast that this will be a
monotonous world, at any rate for nat
uralists, In another century. Not so
long ago the hippopotainus haunted the
rivers of Cape Colony and Natal. and
t'lake-cow bacon" as the sailed layer
of fat underlying the hide is called was
a favorite dish; but now this huge Gre
allure has disappeared from both coun-
tries. The hunter has been it's enemy
for many century, but the rife is a
far more deadly weapon than the as
segai. The animal has an appetite pro-
portional to it's bulk, and can accom-
modate good deal Of vegetable pro-
duce. Besides this, it is wasteful
feeder, trampling down and tearing up
much more than it consumes, and it
prefers cultivated plants to wild vege-
tation. That has proved it's doom in
Natal One herd was left at Seacow
Lake, a coast lagoon near Durham, and
was protected by the government. 1t
consisted of parents and a family of
five. Unfortunately, these, like young
people all the world over, loved
"sweeties," and made nocturnal raids
on the neighboring sugar-cane planta-
tons. The owners petitioned the gov
eminent, warrant of execution was
granted and the parental bull, who
must have been nearly fifty years old,
was the last to fall, and will henceforth
be only an exhibit in the Durham
museum.
The hunter of the hippopotamus is
not without excuse. The flesh, especial
ly the fat, is more than palatable. The
feet Of the young calf are said to make
an excellent stew, and the skin to be
better than conger-eel as a substitute
for turtle in soup. The thick, tough
hide is useful for many purposes among
others for correction, since it makes
formidable whips. Hippopotamus ivory
at one time found a place in the mouth
of man, being much used for artificial
teeth so that the lake-cow was worth
capturing. That, no doubt, has helped
in acceleratfng it's departure from a
world where for a long time it has
managed to maintain existence. 1t lived
Pharaohs. A fresco in the old temple
at Edfu shows that it was then har-
pooned by the natives much as it is
now by the Sudanese. Herodotus de-
scribes it; probably it is the behemoth
Of the Book of Job, so that the animal
must then have been fairly common.
Roman crowds stared at it in the DAYS
of the Empire.
Then came a long interval, and it
was not till 1850 that London received
the first which had again visited Eu-
rope. Before the Christian era it haunt
ed the Nile even below the First Cata-
ract; it is now not found north of DON
COLA, between the Second and the Third
and is comparatively rare till above
Khartum. AS Mr.. Lydek1er tells us
at the present day it is practically re-
stricted to the African rivers and lakes
between the seventeenth parallel of
north latitude and the twenty-fifth of
south latitude. But it's range in pre-
historic times was far more extensive
The remains of this one species, Hippo
potamus amphibius of 'naturalists for
the fossil form is indistinguishable
from the living one, except that it grew
to a rather larger size), have been
found over Europe from Italy to York
shire. In those early days it managed
to endure even the English climate
though probably this was then much
colder than now, and it found our riv-
ers sufficient for it's needs. The streams
no doubt, were bigger than they are at