With r^hishliirht and Rifle * 



■?> 



In 1896 hippopotamuses were still plcntllul in the Nzoia 

 River and the Athi Ri\'er in British J{ast Africa ; they 

 were to be tound, too, all aloiiL^^ the coast between Dar-es- 

 Salaani and Pangani. I saw them on several occasi(^ns in 

 the surf, and shall never forfjet mv astonishment once, on 

 getting' out of a chimp ot cocoa-palms, to see what I 

 had imagined to be an uprooted tree-trunk out on the 

 sands suddenly change into a hippopotamus and make its 

 way out into the sea. 



Hippopotamuses travel by sea to get from one estuary 

 to another, no doubt ridchng themselves at the same time 

 of certain parasites in the salt water. 



On the river deltas along the coast efforts have been 

 made to capture young hippopotamuses — one of our best- 

 known dealers in wild animals lost his son through an 

 attack of fever brought on by one such attempt. Eight 

 vears ago I saw in the harb()ur of Dar-es-Saalam some 

 hippopotamuses which were lett unmolested there ; and one 

 nocturnal expedition on which I went out in the company 

 of the acting Governor, Herr von Benningsen it was my 

 first experience of the tropics — I saw a hippopotamus 

 quite close at hand. As it was wild boar we were after, 

 I was naturally much surprised at coming upon one ot the 

 giiuits ol African lite in this way. 



Wm: capture of voung hippopotamuses is a consideral)ly 

 easier undertaking than that ot \()ung rhinoceroses or 

 elephants. Xevertludess, ver\ 1('W specimens have as \et 

 been secured. 



Some years ago a l{uro|)ean resident in Portuguese 

 territory tried to catch a full-grown hippo[)otamus in a 



2 So 



