The Hippopotamus

Your correspondent L. (Vol. ii., p. 35.) says, "None of the Greek writers appear to have seen a live hippopotamus:" and again, "The hippopotamus, being an inhabitant of the Upper Nile, was imperfectly known to the ancients." Herodotus says (ii. 71.) that this animal was held sacred by the Nomos of Papremis, but not by the other Egyptians. The city of Papremis is fixed by Bähr in the west of the Delta (ad ii. 63.); and Mannert conjectured it to be the same as the later Xoïs, lying between the Sebennytic and Canopic branches, but nearer to the former. Sir Gardner Wilkinson says, several represen…