The Hippopotamus was an object of much interest to early natural historians and the curious public alike. Many legends grew up about this huge and remarkable Nile-dwelling beast, especially as some Biblical scholars said it must have been the massive animal called the `Behemoth' as described in the book of Job, but others disagreed, (and some still do.) Hippopotami (and crocodiles) were still to be found in the Delta region of the Nile in the early nineteenth century. In a letter dated 26 September 1818, Salt recorded the hunting of a hippopotamus near Damietta (modern Dumyat) and continued `I have seen the skin, and got a pretty correct drawing of it...'

Salt was a diplomat, and a collector of antiquities. He was also an artist who had received training in drawing and portrait-painting from established artists, including J. Glover, J. Farington and J. Hoppner. He was later to use his skills to draw ancient Egyptian antiquities. After government missions in India, Ceylon, Abyssinia and Egypt; he was appointed British Consul-General in Egypt in 1815, and during his term of office, 1816-27, financed several excavations, including those of G.B. Belzoni. Salt formed three large collections of antiquities, eventually mostly acquired by the British Museum and the Louvre.