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the Cape; and, according to Hasselquist, its hide is a load for a camel. Though he delights in the water, and lives in it as freely as upon land, yet he has not, like the beaver or otter, membranes between his toes. The great size of his belly renders his specific gravity nearly equal to that of water, and makes him swim with ease. These animals inhabit the rivers of Africa, from the Niger to Berg River, many miles north of the Cape of Good Hope. They formerly abounded in the rivers nearer the Cape, but are now almost extirpated. They are not found in any of the African rivers which run into the Mediterranean, except the Nile, and even there only in Upper Egypt, and in the fens and lakes of Ethiopia, which that river passes through. From the unwieldiness of his body, and the shortness of his legs, the hippopotamus is not able to move fast upon land, and is then extremely timid. When pursued, he takes to the water, plunges in, sinks to the bottom, and is seen walking there at full ease; he cannot, however, continue there long without often rising towards the surface; and in the day-time is so fearful of being discovered, that, when he takes in fresh air, the place is hardly perceptible; for he does not venture even to put his nose out of the water. In rivers unfrequented by mankind he is less cautious, and puts his whole head out of the water. If wounded, he will rise and attack boats or canoes with great fury, and often sink them by biting large pieces out of the sides: and frequently people are drowned by these animals; for they are as bold in the water as they are timid on land. It is reported that they will at once bite a man in two. In shallow rivers the hippopotamus makes deep holes in the bottom, in order to conceal his great bulk. When he quits the water, he usually puts out half his body at once, and smells, and looks around; but sometimes rushes out with great impetuosity, and tramples down every thing in his way. During the night he leaves the rivers in order to pasture; when he eats sugar-canes, rushes, millet, rice, &c., consuming great quantities, and doing much damage in the cultivated fields. But as he is so timid on land, it is not difficult to drive him off. The Egyptians,' Hasselquist informs us, have a curious manner of freeing themselves in some measure from this destructive animal. They remark the places he frequents most, and there lay a great quantity of peas: when the beast comes on shore hungry and voracious, he falls to eating what is nearest him; and, filling his belly with the peas, they occasion an insupportable thirst: he then returns immediately into the river, and drinks upon these dry peas large draughts of water, which suddenly causes his death; for the peas soon begin to swell with the water, and not long after the Egyptians find him dead on the shore, blown up as if killed with the strongest poison. The river-horse also feeds on roots of trees, which he loosens with his great teeth; but never eats fish, as is asserted by Dampier. The hippopotami sleep in the reedy islands in the middle of the stream, and on these they bring forth their young. A herd of females has but a single male they bring one young at a time, and that on the land, but suckle it in the water.

They are capable of being tamed. Belon says, he has seen one so gentle as to be let loose out of a stable and fed by its keeper, without attempting to injure any one.' They are generally taken in pitfalls, and the poor people eat the flesh. In some parts the natives place boards full of sharp irons in the corn grounds; which these beasts strike into their feet, and so become an easy prey. Sometimes they are struck in the water with harpoons fastened to cords, and ten or twelve canoes are employed in the chase. The hippopotamus was known to the Romans. Scaurus treated the people with the sight of five crocodiles and one hippopotamus during his ædileship, and exhibited them in a temporary lake. Augustus produced one at his triumph over Cleopatra. This animal is the behemoth of Job; who admirably describes its manners, its food, and its haunts, chap. xl. ver. 15—24. An entertaining account of the hippopotamus is given in Sparman's Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, where these animals are called sea-cows. After giving a particular narrative of a hunting expedition, for two days, upon which he and Mr. Immelman had set out, on the 24th of January, 1776, accompanied by other three Europeans, and two Hottentots, and wherein he himself was once in imminent danger of his life from one of these animals, Mr. Sparman proceeds as follows:-The same night (the 26th) we betook ourselves again to our posts; and at half after eight, it being already very dark, a sea-cow began at intervals to put its head up above the water, and utter a sharp, piercing, and very angry cry,which seemed to be between grunting and neighing. Perhaps this cry may be best expressed by the words heurkh, hurkh, huh-huh: the two first being uttered slowly, in a hoarse, but sharp and tremulous sound, resembling the grunting of other animals; while the third or compound word is sounded extremely quick, and is not unlike the neighing of a horse. It is true, it is impossible to express these inarticulate sounds in writing; but perhaps one may make nearer approaches to it than to the gutturo-palatial sounds of the Hottentot language. At eleven o'clock came the same or some other hippopotamus, and visited the posts we occupied. He did not, however, dare to come up, though we heard him nibble the boughs, which hung over the surface of the water, as well as a little grass and a few low shrubs, which grew on the inside of the river's banks. We were, however, in hopes, that this way of living would not long suffice animals, one of which only requires almost a larger portion than a whole team of oxen. Thus far at least is certain, that if one should calculate the consumption of provision made by a sea-cow from the size of its fauces, and from that of its body and belly, which hangs almost down to the ground, together with the quantity of grass which I have at different times observed to have been consumed by one of them, in spots whither it has come over night to graze, the amount would appear almost incredible. We passed the following night at the same posts, the sea-cows acting much as before. On the 28th, after sun-rise, just as we were thinking of going home to our

waggons, there comes, a female hippopotamus, with her calf, from some other pit or river, to take up her quarters in that which we were then blockading. While she was waiting at a rather steep part of the river's banks, and looking back after her calf, which was lame, and came on but slowly, she received a shot in her side, upon which she directly plunged into the river, but was not mortally wounded; for Flip, the farmer's son, the drowsiest of all sublunary beings, who had shot her, and that instant could hardly be awakened by two Hottentots, was still half asleep when he fired his piece. And happy was it for him, that the enormous beast did not make towards his hiding or rather sleeping place, and send him into the other world to sleep for ever. In the mean while his shot was so far of service, that one of my Hottentots ventured to seize the calf, and hold it fast by its hind legs, till the rest of the hunting party came to his assistance; upon which the calf was fast bound, and with the greatest joy borne in triumph to our waggons; though, while they were taking it over a shallow near the river, the Hottentots were very much alarmed, lest the wounded mother, and the other sea-cows should be induced by the cries of the calf to come to its rescue; the creature, as long as it was bound, making a noise a good deal like a hog that is going to be killed, or has got fast between two posts. The sound, however, proceeding from the hippopotamus calf was more shrill and harsh. It showed likewise a considerable share of strength in the attempt it made to get loose, and was quite unmanageable and unwieldy; the-length of it being three feet and a half, and the height two feet, though the Hottentots supposed it to be no more than a fortnight, or at most three weeks old. When at last it was turned loose it ceased crying; and when the Hottentots had passed their hands several times over its nose, in order to accustom it to their effluvia, it began directly to take to them.' While the calf was yet alive,' he adds, "I made a drawing of it, a copy of which may be seen in the Swedish Transactions for 1778. After this it was killed, dissected, and eaten up in less than three hours time. The reason of this quick despatch was partly the warmth of the weather, and partly our being in absolute want of any other fresh provisions. We found the flesh and fat of this calf as flabby as one might have expected from its want of age, and consequently not near so good as that of the old sea-cows; of which I found the flesh tender, and the fat of a taste like marrow, or at least not so greasy and strong as other fat. It is for this reason likewise that the colonists look upon the flesh and fat of the sea-cow as the wholesomest meat that can be eaten; the gelatinous part of the feet in particular, when properly dressed, being accounted a great delicacy. The dried tongues of these animals are also considered, even at the Cape, as a rare and savoury dish. On my return to Sweden, I had the honor to furnish his majesty's table with a dried sea-cow's tongue, two feet and eight inches long. With respect to form, the tongue of a full-grown hippopotamus is very blunt at the tip, and is in fact broadest at that part: if at the same time it is slanted off towards one side,

and marked with lobes, as I was informed it is, this circumstance may, perhaps, proceed from the friction it suffers against the teeth, towards the side on which the animal chiefly chews; at leas. some traces of this oblique form were discoverable on the dried tongue I am speaking of. The hide of the adult hippopotamus bears a great resemblance to that of the rhinoceros, but is rather thicker. Whips made of this hide are likewise stronger, and, after being used some time, are more pliable than those made of the hide of the rhinoceros usually are, though they are not so transparent as these latter are when new. That the hippopotamus actually lives in salt water, I have seen evident proofs at the mouths both of the Kromme and Camtour rivers, particularly in the latter, on my journey homewards; where many of these animals blowed themselves in broad day light, and thrust their heads up above the water; and one of them, in particular, which had been wounded by an ill-directed shot on the nose, neighed from anger and resentment. In Krakekamma I saw on the beach manifest traces of a hippopotamus which had come out of the sea, but had retired thither again directly.

The method of catching the hippopotamus consists (besides shooting it) in making pits for it, in those parts which the animal passes, in his way to and from the river: but this method is peculiar to the Hottentots; and is only practised by them in the rainy season, as the ground in summer is too hard for that purpose. It is said that they have never succeeded in killing this huge aquatic animal with poisoned darts, though this way of killing game is practised with advantage by the Hottentots for the destruction both of the elephant and rhinoceros. The hippopotamus is not so quick in its pace on land as the generality of the larger quadrupeds, though perhaps it is not so slow and heavy as M. de Buffon describes it to be; for both the Hottentots and colonists look upon it as dangerous to meet a hippopotamus out of the water; especially as, according to report, they had had a recent instance of one of these animals, which, from certain circumstances, was supposed to be in rut, having for several hours pursued a Hottentot, who found it very difficult to make his escape. Having already exceeded the limits I had prescribed to myself, I do not intend to dwell here on the anatomy of the hippopotamus we caught; particularly as the internal conformation of the calves is somewhat different from that of the adult animal. I shall therefore only briefly mention the following particulars: the stomachs were four in number, and consequently one more than in the fœtus examined by M. Daubenton, which was kept in spirits. Compare Buffon, tom. xii. tab. iv. fig. 2. The two first stomach were each of them about seven inches long and three inches in diameter; the third was nine inches in length, and a little wider than the two former; the fourth was seven inches long, and at the upper part five inches broad, but decreased by degrees on one side till it terminated in the pylorus, which had an aperture an inch in width, being about half as wide again as the cardia. I did not observe any such valves as M. Dauben

ton has delineated. The first stomach was found mostly empty, it containing only a few lumps of cheese or curd; it likewise differed from the rest by the superior fineness of its internal coat. The internal membrane of the second stomach was rather coarser, and had many small holes in it; it likewise contained several clods of caseous matter, together with a great quantity of sand and mud. The third stomach had very visible folds, both longitudinal and transversal, on the inside of it, and contained caseous lumps of a yellow color and harder consistence than the others, together with several leaves quite whole and fresh, and at the same time some dirt. The interior membrane of the fourth stomach was very smooth, though it was not without folds; in the stomach itself there was a good deal of dirt, with a small quantity of curds, which were whiter than they were in any of the other stomachs. This fourth stomach in a great measure covered the rest, being situated on the right side of the animal, and was found to have the upper part of the melt adhering to its superior and interior edge. This latter viscus, which was one foot long and three inches broad, diverged from it downwards on the left side. The intestinal canal was 109 feet long; the liver measured fourteen inches from right to left, and seven or eight from the hind part to the fore part. On its anterior edges it had a large notch, being in other respects undivided and entire; it was of an oblique form, being broadest towards the left side, where I discovered a gall-bladder five inches in length. In the uterus there was nothing particularly worthy of observation. I found two teats, and the heart surrounded with much fat; the length of this muscle was five inches, and the breadth about four inches and a half. The communication between the auricles, called the foramen ovale, was above an inch in diameter. Each lung was eleven inches long, and undivided: but, at the superior and exterior parts of the right lung, there were two globules or processes, elevated half an inch above the surface; and on the side corresponding to it in the left lung, and in the upper part of it, there was a little excrescence, terminating in a point: somewhat below this, yet more forwards, there was found likewise a process half an inch in height. Directly over the lower part of the communication formed between the right and left lungs, there was a kind of crest or comb, measuring an inch from the top to the basis. One of my brother sportsmen said, he had once observed a peculiar kind of vermin on the body of one of these amphibious animals; but on the calf we caught we found nothing but a species of leech, which kept only about the anus, and likewise a good way up in the straight gut, where, by a timely abstraction of the blood, they may be of use to these large amphibious animals; and particularly may act as preservatives against the piles,repaying themselves for their trouble in kind; most of them were very small; but on the other hand there was a considerable number of them. The only large one I saw of this species, being somewhat more than an inch in length, I described and made a drawing of: this is inserted by the name of the Hirudo Capensis, corpore supra nigri

cante, medio longitudinaliter sub-brunneo, subtus pallide fusco, in the elegant Treatise on Worms, which M. Adolphus Nodeer, first secretary of the patriotic society, is preparing for the press. Instead of the lighter colored streak upon the back, there was discoverable in some of these leeches one and sometimes two longitudinal brownish lines, which grew fainter and fainter towards the extremities. This huge animal has doubtless obtained its present name, merely in consequence of the neighing sound it makes, as otherwise in its form it bears not the least resemblance to a horse, but rather to a hog. Neither does it in the least resemble the ox; so it could be only the different stomachs of this animal which could occasion it to be called sea-cow at the Cape; and perhaps it is for the same reason that the Hottentots call it the t'gao, which nearly approaches to t'kau, the name by which the buffalo is known among these people. Mr. Maxwell, in his account of Coango, says 'I never had the good fortune to kill a hippopotamus, although I have often attempted it by muffling the oars and warily approaching them, but they always took the alarm and retreated to deep water. This inclines me to think, that one of their number stands sentinel while the others sleep. They presented, however, many oportunities of being fired at, rearing their huge heads abruptly out of the water, sometimes only a few yards from the boat, putting us under no small apprehension by their tremendous bellowing and threatening aspect. Many a volley was fired at them, but whether the hide is proof against ball, or the current carried the wounded out of our reach, we could not ascertain.

HIPPOPOTAMUS FOSSIL. Zoologists are acquainted with one living species of hippopotamus only, but late observations have proved that the bowels of the earth contain the fossil remains of two perfectly distinct species, one of which appears not to differ in any respect from the one still existing; the other being, as it were, a miniature copy of the larger, is nearly of the size of the wild boar. The discovery of this latter we owe to the indefatigable Cuvier, who has likewise proved the existence of the other species in a fossil state. Several authors, prior to that celebrated naturalist, have mentioned fossil bones of the great African hippopotamus, but subsequent observations proved that they had been rather too rash in forming their diagnosis.

Some writers, on the other hand, have been in the possession of real fossil remains of the hippopotamus without being aware of it. Thus Aldrovandus has figured several molares of this animal under the name of elephant's teeth, while the real elephant's teeth, of which he has likewise given a representation, were considered by him as belonging to some large unknown animal. The only authors who have been more correct, both in the application of the name of hippopotamus, and in their observations respecting the fossil remains of the animal in question, are Antoine de Jussieu and Daubenton; the fossil bones described by the former, as early as 1724, cannot be doubted to be really those of the river horse; and those indicated by Daubenton under the same name, and deposited (promiscuously with

others, which belong to the mastodonte, in the museum at Paris, were the first that served to convince Cuvier of the existence of fossil remains of

1. The great or common hippopotamus.-One of the last-mentioned specimens of osseous remains, consists in a portion of the right side of the lower jaw containing two molar teeth; the other in a single molar tooth. The place where they were found is not known with certainty. A third specimen, examined by Cuvier, is a fragment of the upper jaw, with two molar teeth, in the collection of M. de Drée; it is penetrated by a ferruginous substance, but does not bear any indication of its origin; it is not, however, improbable that it was found in the neighbourhood of Montpelier.

More satisfactory than the preceding specimens, with regard to its locality, was one in the collection of M. Miot. This bone, which was known to have been gathered in the Val d'Arno, in Tuscany, is an astragalus, resembling that of a hog, to which animal the hippopotamus approaches more than to any other, with regard to the conformation of all its parts. The place where bones of the hippopotamus are actually found being thus ascertained, Cuvier applied to Fabbroni at Florence, who sent him drawings of two molar teeth, and one representing a fragment of a tusk or canine tooth, which Cuvier soon ascertained to belong to the animal in question. Respecting the canine tooth, it is observed by Fabbroni, that it differs from that of the African hippopotamus in its diameter being greater compared with its length, and also in its spiral cur-, vature being much more distinct. He adds, that these teeth are scattered in various parts of the upper valley of Arno, but unaccompanied either by jaws or other bones.

Cuvier thinks there is no material difference either between these fossil teeth or the astragalus he has examined, and those of the living species; and indeed it is remarkable, that the animal, whose existence in a fossil state had at first appeared doubtful to geologists, should be one whose fossil remains far more strikingly resemble the bones of the still existing species, than any other fossil remains which naturalists have referred to living animals, such as the elephant, the rhinoceros, &c.

2. The small fossil hippopotamus.-The mass out of which Cuvier extracted the remains of this species (but the geological relation of which is unfortunately unknown), resembles the osseous breccia of Gibraltar, Dalmatia, and Cette, except that the matrix, instead of being calcareous and stalactitical, is a homogeneous sandstone, which uniformly fills up all the intervals between the bones; the bones also form a far more considerable portion of the mass than is the case in the Gibraltar rock. After having performed the difficult operation of disengaging all the separate osseous fragments, M. Cuvier found that they belonged to an animal of which no traces had hitherto been discovered, but which was unquestionably a congener of the common hippopota

mus.

The teeth were found to agree in all essential points with those of the other species; and the remainder of the osseous fragments, which

were next examined, confirmed, without a single exception, what had been indicated by the characters of the teeth.

HIPPURIS, mare's-tail; a genus of the monogynia order and monandria class of plants; natural order fifteenth, inundatæ: CAL. none, nor any petals; the stigma is simple; and there is one seed. There are two species, one a native of Britain, and which grows in ditches and stagnant waters. The flower of this plant is found at the base of each leaf, and is as simple as can be conceived; there being neither empalement nor blossom; and only one chive, one pointal, and one seed. It is a very weak astringent. Goats eat it; cows, sheep, horses, and swine, refuse it.

HIPPUS, an affection of the eyes, that makes them represent objects in the like kind of motion as when on horseback.

HIRAM, a king of Tyre, contemporary with Solomon, whom he supplied with cedar, gold, silver, and other materials for building the temple. He died A. A. C. 1000.

HIRAM, an artist of Tyre, who assisted in the erection of Solomon's temple, and other public buildings at Jerusalem, flourished A. A. C.

1015.

HIRCH-HORN, a town. of Germany, in the circle of the Lower Rhine, with a strong castle; seated on the side of a hill on the Neckar, and in the palatinate. Mr. Crutwell places it in the electorate of Mentz, seven miles east of Heidelberg, and twelve south of Erbach. Long. 9° 0′ E., lat. 49° 28′ N.

HIRE, v. a. & n. s.
HIRE'LING, n. s. & adj.
HIRER, n. s.

Sax. þynan, þyne; Dan. hyre; Swed. To procure any thing for temporary use at a cerhyra; Belgic huur. tain price: the price so paid to engage a servant in temporary service; the wages paid to them: to bribe; to let at a certain price: hireling one who serves for wages, in a good or bad sense; a prostitute; a venal person: hirer in Scotland is one who keeps small horses to let.

They that were full, hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry, ceased. 1 Sam. ii. hire a goldIsa. xlvi. 6.

They weigh silver in the balance, and
smith, and he maketh it a god.

From thennesforth the Jewes han conspired
This innocent out of this world to chace :
An homicide han they hired,
That in an aleye had a privee place
And as the child gan forthly for to pace
This cursed Jew him hent and held him fast
And cut his throte and in a pit him caste.
Chaucer. The Prioresses Tale.

About him lefte he no mason
That stone could laie, ne no querrour;
He hired hem to make a tour.

Id. Romaunt of the Rose.
The hireling longs to see the shades descend,
That with the tedious day his toil might end,
And he his pay receive.
Sandys.

Great thanks and goodly meed to that good sire;
He thence departing gave for his pains hire.

Spenser.

I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms Are hired to bear their staves. Shakspeare.

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Now she shades thy evening walk with bays, No hireling she, no prostitute to praise. Pope. HIRE (Philip de la), an eminent French mathematician and astronomer, born at Paris in 1640. His father, who was painter in ordinary to the king, designed him for the same profession: but he devoted himself to mathematical studies, and was nominated, together with M. Picard, to make the necessary observations for a new map of France, by the directions of M. Colbert. In 1683 he was employed in continuing the famous meridian line begun by M. Picard; and was next engaged in constructing the grand aqueducts projected by Louis XIV. He died in 1718, after having written a great number of works, besides several occasional papers dispersed in Journals, and in Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences.

HIRPINI, in ancient geography, a people of Italy, next to the Samnites, to the south-east and descendants from them; situated to the north of the Picentini, and to the west of the Apuli, having on the north the Appennines and a part of Samnium. The name is from Hirpus, a term denoting in their language a wolf; either because under the conduct of this animal the colony was led and settled, according to Strabo; or because, like that prowling animal, they lived on plunder, according to Servius.

HIRSCHBERG, a town of Silesia, in the principality of Jauer, famous for its trade and manufactures. In 1549 it was burnt; in 1633 pillaged by the Saxons; and in 1634 burnt by the Imperialists. It is twenty-two miles southeast of Buntzlau.

HIRSCHBERG, a well-built commercial town in the principality of Jauer, Silesia, at the confluence of the Bober and the Zacke. It is the chief place of a circle, and contains 6000 inhabitants, chiefly Lutherans. The support of the inhabitants is chiefly a trade in linen, and fine lawn; here are also some woollen manufactures. This town was burnt down in 1549; in 1633 it was pillaged by the Saxons; and in 1634 again burned by the Imperial troops. It is twenty-three miles W. S.W. of Jauer, and thirtyfive west of Schweidnitz.

HIRSCHFELD, or HERSFELD, a southern district and town of Hesse-Cassel. The district is 168 square miles in extent, with a population of 22,000, and divided into eight bailiwics: it is in general very fertile, but in part covered with wood. The town is walled and situated on the Fulda, which is here navigable. It contains 5500 inhabitants, and has a well regulated Calvinistic gymnasium. It has also some manufactures of cloth and leather. Twenty-five miles north of Fulda.

HIRSCHING (Frederic Charles Gottlob), a learned German professor, was born at Uffenheim, December 21st, 1762. He had been nominated supernumerary professor of philosophy at Erlangen, but had scarcely at his death entered on the functions of his office. He is chiefly known for his researches on history and geography. His best works are A Description of the Principal Libraries of Germany, Erlangen, 1786, 4 vols. 8vo.; An Account of the most Curious Pictures, and collections of Engravings, 6 vols. 8vo.; and A Dictionary of Celebrated Persons of the Eighteenth Century, continued after his death by J. H. M. Ernesti and others, at Cobourg. Hirsching's portion of the work consists of the first five volumes. He died at Erlangen, March 11th, 1800. HIR'SUTE, adj. Latin hirsutus. Rough;

rugged.

There are bulbous, fibrous, and hirsute roots: the hirsute is a middle sort, between the bulbous, and fibrous; that, besides the putting forth sap upwards Bacon, and downwards, putteth forth in round.

HIRTELLA, in botany, a genus of the monagynia order; and pentandria class of plants. There are five petals; the filaments are very long, persisting and spiral; the berry is monospermous; the style lateral. Species four; natives of Guiana and the West Indies.

HIRUDO, the leech, a genus of insects belonging to the order of vermes intestinæ. The body moves either forward or backward. There are several species, principally distinguished by their color. The most remarkable are the following:

H. geometra, the geometrical leech, grows to an inch and a half in length; and has a smooth and glossy skin of a dusky-brown color but in some seasons greenish spotted with white. When in motion its back is elevated into a kind of ridge; and it then appears as if measuring the space it passed over like a compass, whence its name. Its tail is remarkably broad; and it holds as firmly by it as by the head. It is common on stones in shallow running waters; and is often found on trouts and other fish after spawning time.

H. medicinalis, the medicinal leech, the form of which is well known, grows to the length of two or three inches. The body is of a blackishbrown color, marked on the back with six yellow spots, and edged with a yellow line on each side; but both the spots and the lines grow faint, and almost disappear, at some seasons. head is smaller than the tail, which fixes itself very firmly to any thing the creature pleases. It is viviparous, and produces but one young one at a time, which is in July. It is an inhabitant of

The

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