"The Hippopotame, or horse of the river, is tawnie, hath little haire, and leapes to land to feed, and in the day time returnes to the water. The Afrikans make some of them tame, and they are exceeding swift, but they must not passe over deepe rivers, for they will presently dive. There doe also ingender in those rivers certaine water oxen, which live for some dayes upon the land. The aboundance of water, together with the heat, by reason of the neerenesse of the Sun, makes the countrie exceeding fertile, and to abound in plants, fruit, hearbes, and graine, and it would yeeld much more, if the industrie of the inhabitants did helpe nature."