The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-07-24
THE H1ppoPrAMUs



Use last hippopotamus has been slaugh-
te' red In Natal. All the larger and more cu-
n Dus animals are disappearing so fast that
I MS Will be monotonous world, at any
rate for naturalists in another century, Not
ESQ long ago the htppopotamus haunted tho
rivers of Cape Colony and Natal, and "laize-
cow bacon" as the sailed layer of fat I'M
DERIVING the hide is called, was favorits
dish; but now this huge creature has dis
appeared from both countries. The hunter
has been its enemy for many a century.
but the rifle is a far more deadly weapon
than the assegai. The animal has an ap-
petite proportional to its bulk and can ac-
| commodate good deal of vegetable prod
uce. Besides this. it is wasteful feeder,
trampling down and tearing up much more
than it consumes, and 1t prefers cultivated
plants to wild vegetation. That has proved
its doom in Natal. One herd was left at
Seacow lake, a coast lagoon near Durham,
and was protected by the government It
consisted of parents and 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 petitioned
the government: a warrant Of execution
must have been nearly so 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, especially the
fat, is more than palatable. The feet OF
the young calf is said to make an excellent
stew, and the skin to be better than con-
ger eel as substitute for turtle in soup.
btaly Id do t. A$,,l Trr
purposes, among others for correction.
since it makes formidable whips.
Hippopoatmus ivory at one time found
a place in the mouth of man, being much
used for artificial yeeth, so that the lake
cow was worth capturing. That, no doubt,
has helped in accelerating its departure
from a world where for q long time 1t has
managed to maintain existence. 1t lived
on the Lower Nile in the days Of the Pha-
raohs. A fresco in the old temple at Edfu
shows that 1t was then harpooned by the
natives much as it is now by the Sudanese.
Herodotus describes it; probably 1t is tho
behemoth of the Book Of Job, 80 that tina
animal must then have been fairly COM
mon. Roman crowds stared at it in the
days of the Empire
Then came a long interval, and 1t was not
till 1850 that London received the first
which had again visited Europe. Before the
Christian era it haunted the Nile, even be-
low the First Cataract; 1t is now not found
north of Dongola, between the Second and
the Third, and Is comparatively rare till
above Khartoum. AS Mr.. Lydekker tells
US, at the present day 1t Is practically re-
stricted to the African rivers and lakes be.
tween the seventeenth parallel of north
latitude and the twenty-fifth of south lat
itude. But it's range in prehistoric times
was far more extensive. The remains Of
this one species, Hippopotamus amphtbius
of naturalists Qor the fossil form Is indis-
tinguishable from the living one, except
that 1t grew to q rather larger siZe), have
been found over Europe from Italy to
Yorkshire. In those early days it managed
to endure even the English climate, though
probably this was then much colder than
now, and 1t found our rivers sufficient for
it's needs. The streams, no doubt, werc
bigger than they are at present, for in those
days England stood at a higher level, form
ing part of Europe, and rainfall probably
was heavier. Still, hippopotamus bones
have been discovered, as described by o.
mond Fisher, even in the valley of the Cam
four or five miles above Cambridge.
In those days, also, 1t had suitable COM
panions-two kinds Of elephants. two OF
rhinoceros, besides lions and bears, horses
and reindeer, and such like. Its remains,
however, are generally found with the par
ticuar members of this group which have
The more southern range. Still, 1t must
have been proof against a cold climate.
Man was then upon the earth. but this hip
popotaMus, so far as we can tell, was there
before him. But it, too, had predecessors.
and the genus once enjoyed much more
extended range. At the present day It has
one other representative-the Liberian hip
popotamus, a creature hardly larger than
q pig which lives in some of the West At
rican rvers.--London Standard.