Washington sentinel., 1898-07-09

WOOnAAlaus
HippopOtami are BecOmi ng Extinct
The last hippopOtamus has been
slaughtered in Natal. All the
larger and more curious creatures
are disappearing so fast that this
will be a monotonous world, at
any rate for naturalists, IN another
century. Not so long ago the hip
popotamus haunted the rivers OF
Cape Colony and Natal, and lake
COW bacon" as the salte(l layer of
fat underlying the hide is called,
was a favorite dish, but now the
huge creature has disappeared from
both countries. The hunter has
been its enemy for more than
century. but the rifle is far more
deadly weapon than the assegal.
The animal has an appetite pro-
portional to its bulk, and can ac-
commodate a good deal OF vegeta-
BILE produce. Besides this, it is a
wasteful feeder, trampling down
and tearing up more than it con-
sumes, and it prefers cultivated
plan to wild vegetation.
1t is this trait that has proven its
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 plantations. The owners petit
toned the Government. a warrant
of execution was granted, and the
paternal bull, who must have been
nearly fifty years old, was the last
10 fall, and will henceforth be only
an Exhibit" in the Durham
Museum.
So the strange creatures Of the
earth disappeared before the white
man, the great destroyer. The
hippopotamuS, the elephant and
the giraffe, to speak only of Africa,
and with many kinds OF antelopes,
are rapidly diminishing in num-
bers. In another century they
may have followed the laubok and
the quagga of their own continent.
the northern sea COW, the great
aux, the dodo, and the moa Of
other lands. Gunpowder has been
their ruin. They have had their
foes from the first, though proba-
bly, such heavy and well protected
creatures as the hippopotamus had
little to fear from prowling car
except in the weakness Of
youth or old age. Man, too, has
hunted them for many long year,
out spears OF stone, or even of
metal, are not very effective against
such natural armor plate as the
hide OF hippopotamus, a rhinoc-
eros or even an elephant, and
though traps were sometimes more
destructive, these creatures all held
their own in the world until the
white man came with his gun and
its more deadly development, the
rife.
The earlier explorers-Livings
ton, Baker, even Selous, in south
eastern Airica-tound the hippo
potamuS in mum bers on the great
rivers; parts OF the White Nile in
the dry season were crowded with
them. Such abundance was not
always welcome, for there are times
when the room Of a hippopotamus
Is better than its company. Though
generally timid, it occasionally
becomes very pugnacious, partic-
llarly if startled or infuriated by
In Bakers words, there
is no chance of escape for the traJ-
eller by night on the Nile in an or
binary boat, should a hippopota-
mus get an idea that this is an
enemy. A snort is heard in the
darkness a few yards of, and the
boat is upset. On the White Nile
a hippopotamus actually charged
his steamer, breaking several
blades of a paddle wheel and
knocking a couple OF holes in the
side with its tusks.
Worse than this, it rs accused,
though strictly herbivorous, of
killing the men as they
swim tor their lives. 1t needs but
4 glance at that huge cavern OF a
at the projecting canine
-eeth, at the two long and strong
ncIsors OF the lower jaw, to see
that one bite from hippopotamus
would almost cut a man i n two.
WHITE WINE. An old carica-
.ure OF CHAINS depicted the hor-
ror Of a French gentleman who
nad made inquiries This wine mer-
chant as to the prospects OF the vim
age, and had received the reply
hat the outlook was good, Tor the
price of potato spirit had fallen and
he supply OF tuchsine was ample.
During the bad years after the
the public mind be-
came firmly Imbued with the be-
ief that the red wines of France
we're particularly liable to be adul-
The notion that white
wines were less likely to be sophis-
.icated gave rise to fashion which
mas continued after the belief on
which it was founded has ceased
10 have any good ground. We do
not propose to attribute to French
vine makers any exceptional in
crease OF conscientiousness, but
the fact appears to be that recent
vintages have been so copious that
L is not worth while to adulterate.
the public belief in
a greater purity OF French white
wines persists, and, as one conse-