196 
more or less wooded with sycamores, acacias, and mimosas, and but 
little frequented by man, literally swarm with Crocodiles and Hip- 
popotami, 
The latter in particular made many rude and uncouth attempts to 
dispute the right of passage over their hitherto secluded home, by 
attacking my boat, battering-ram fashion, both under and on the 
surface of the water; and on one memorable occasion, to the surprise 
and horror of all on board, a huge beast, suddenly raising half its 
great carcass with an agility hardly to be expected out of the water, 
close under the bows, carried off my unfortunate cook from the gun- 
wale on which he was sitting, one bite of the animal’s powerful jaws 
sufficing to sever his body in two at the waist. 
It was here, whilst returning in the month of April in the year 1858 
from the regions of the equator, where I founded an establishment of 
twenty-five men (Arabs from the neighbourhood of Khartoum), for 
the barter of elephants’ tusks with the aborigines, the Niam Niams, 
that the ‘‘look-out’’ at the mast-head, almost frantic with excitement, 
called out “A young Hippopotamus,” pointing to the reeds within 
a few yards of which we were sailing. A dozen of my sailors leaped 
into the water, and, disappearing amongst the thick herbage, soon 
returned, one of them grasping in his arms a young animal about 
the size of a spaniel, and kept afloat and propelled towards the boat 
with shouts of delight by his companions. 
Fortunately for the safety of the men, the old lady Hippopotamus 
was not at home, and so distant from her charge as not to hear the 
cries of her baby (similar to those of a young calf), or the affair 
might not have terminated so favourably. A piece of the navel- 
string, 15 inches long, was still dangling to its body, and did not 
detach itself for several days afterwards; from which I inferred its 
birth could not have extended over a day or two. 
The unexpected but welcome guest was reared on milk, and in its 
absence with meal and water, being treated with all the attention we 
could bestow on it, and is now, judging from its thriving condition, 
as grateful as its owner for the hospitality it is enjoying at your 
splendid Gardens in the Regent’s Park. 
So large a sheet of water as the “ Bahr il Gazal” will naturally 
attract great numbers of the feather tribe, and it was in this lake 
that I first made the acquaintance of a very handsome Stork (Myc- 
teria senegalensis) and the Baleniceps. 
Of both thése rare birds I was fortunate enough to procure living 
specimens ; the former of which, with numerous rare animals, such 
as the Elephant, Rhinoceros, two species of Ant-Bears, a rare Mon- 
key, and I believe a new species of Antelope, unfortunately died 
during the long and arduous journey from Central Africa through 
Egypt to the Mediterranean. 
The skin of the Stork, however, has been preserved, with a few 
other skins of birds, a remnant of a large collection made between 
the 5th and 15th degrees of N. latitude, but unfortunately lost in 
the Upper Nile-cataracts of Nubia. The few skins alluded to as 
having been saved have been eXamined by your obliging Secretary, 
