THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 295 



with the open mouth; but the ordinary sound was more 

 hke the exhaust of a steam-engine and we think it was 

 made through the nostrils. At night they made all kinds 

 of noises while in the water, and when on the bank; but we 

 never heard them utter a sound when far inland on their 

 rambles. In the daytime we once heard one uttering a 

 series of meditative bubbling squeaks from its secure fast- 

 ness behind the green wall of plumed papyrus. 



The cow is devoted to the calf. When young it stands 

 on her back as she swims. We do not understand the un- 

 concern with which the hippos and crocodiles get on, for 

 some of the latter are certainly large enough and greedy 

 enough to kill a partly grown hippo. Probably the croco- 

 diles dread the vengeance of the truculent old bulls and 

 cows. They feast greedily on a hippo carcass; but so they 

 will on the carcass of one of their own number. The hippo 

 bulls fight savagely among themselves, and at times a 

 ruthless old bully will maul other members of the herd. 

 At Lake Naivasha a young bull which had been thus mal- 

 treated, and was badly scarred, must have gone slightly 

 crazy in consequence, for he came on shore and attacked the 

 cattle, and had to be slain. 



Where unmolested hippos become very insolent and not 

 only ravage the gardens and fields but attack any one who 

 interferes with them; and in places they attack and upset 

 canoes, sometimes quite wantonly, sometimes because the 

 assailant has been wounded or is a cow with a calf. After 

 the canoe is upset they may wreck it with their huge jaws, 

 and they may or may not assail the swimmers. In one case, 

 in the Lado, an old native was almost bitten in two by a 

 savage bull after his canoe was upset; and we were informed 



