474 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



four miles below the junction, however, the united 

 Umniati runs right against a chain ot hills, and then 

 takinfj a sudden turn flows alono- their base towards 

 the north-west, which is the general course it must 

 hold until it finally empties itself into the Zambesi, 

 just at the entrance of the Kariba Gorge. 



The following day we remained where we were 

 in order to partially dry the meat, and on the 13th 

 started on our return journey, following the course 

 of the Umniati all the way. Of this journey there 

 is but one circumstance to record, and that is our 

 coming upon a party of Kafirs engaged in starving a 

 herd of hippopotami to death. The pool in which the 

 poor brutes were enclosed was a large one, over two 

 hundred yards broad and about four hundred in 

 length. On the farther side, where the bank was 

 low, a thick hedge had been made all along the water's 

 edge, behind which several temporary huts had been 

 erected ; above and below the pool, where the river 

 ran in several streams amongst little bushy islands 

 and rocks, strong dams had also been made and 

 more huts erected. ■ On our side of the river the 

 bank was about twelve feet high and very steep, so 

 that egress from the fatal pool was impossible for 

 the poor prisoners, unless indeed they could muster 

 up courage to make a rush and burst their way 

 through one of the barriers, and this, even when in 

 the last extremity of hunger, they do not appear 

 ever to attempt. When we came to the pool there 

 were still ten living hippopotami in it ; eight of 

 these seemed to be standing on a bank in the middle 

 of the water, as more than half their bodies were ex- 

 posed ; the poor brutes were all huddled up in a 

 mass, each with his upraised head resting on another's 

 body. It was a very pitiful sight ; two more were 



