When the hippopotauuis is swimniing in deep water, onlv no.strils, eyes, and eur.s can be ieen 

 above the surface. The British Government has been obliged to modify the protective law that cov- 

 ered these great beasts for under protection they grow bold and come ashore at night to feed in the 

 plantations — with appetites proportionately as large as their bodies 



At work on a hippopotamus, to prepare its skin and skeleton for scientific use. — Before going to 

 Africa I had no realization of the amount of labor it is, in a hot climate, to prepare large thick skins 

 like those of the hippopotamus and rhinoceros for scientific purposes. And the handicap for a scien- 

 tific e.xpedition rests in the great number of men that must be taken along from camp to camp to 

 carry the ponderously heavy skins and help in their preparation. Chosen natives were trained so that 

 under supervision they could successfully remove a skin, but to insure success under the tropical 

 sun, the work had to be done immediately after the specimen was shot. The equipment for the 

 work is proportionately cumbersome and a problem for transportation ; for instance, we used four tons 

 of salt in curing skins in the field in British East Africa 



333 



