THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, OR RIVER HORSE 



all on the march and had stopped on the hills above the 

 river, from which elevation I scanned the waters with my 

 strong Zeiss No. 12 field glasses at a distance of about half 

 a mile. I could plainly make out the big heads of about a 

 dozen or more hippos, floating along in the mighty stream. 

 Between where I stood and the river the country was 

 dotted with bushes and trees, but within one hundred yards 

 or so of the water it was entirely open and only covered 

 with coarse grass, not high enough to afford any cover. 

 Strung along the edge of the river were a good many trees, 

 and upstream in front of the three sleeping hippos was 

 a little hill, only about ten yards away from the animals, 

 on the crest of which elevation were two or three good- 

 sized bushes, which afforded excellent cover for anyone 

 walking close to the river's edge. 



As the wind was " right " I made a large semicircle 

 from where I stood down to the river in front of the trio. 

 1 found that only by going through water and soft mud, 

 sometimes over my knees, could I proceed in a line behind 

 the little hill, if I wanted to approach the hippos unseen. 

 As silently as possible I waded forward, being careful to 

 keep camera and gun above water all the time. This was 

 often not so easy, having once slid down almost to my 

 hips in a muddy hole, only some twenty-five yards away 

 from the hippos. I must then have made somewhat of a 

 splash, which was instantly answered by a much louder 

 splash, as, to my dismay, one of the hippos rolled into the 

 river. 



With the utmost effort I succeeded in a few seconds in 

 getting up on dry ground again, this time on the slope of 

 the little hill, just in time to hear another big splash, as 



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