498 HOW THE CHASE IS CONDUCTED THE SPEAR. 



the greater force to the blow, and the next instant the fatal 

 iron descends with unerring accuracy in the body of the hip- 

 popotamus. 



The wounded animal plunges violently and dives to the 

 bottom, but all his efforts to escape are unavailing. The 

 line or the shaft of the harpoon may break, but the cruel 

 barb once imbedded in the flesh, the weapon (owing to the 

 thickness and toughness of the beast's hide) can not be with- 

 drawn. 



As soon as the hippopotamus is struck, one or more of the 

 men launch a canoe from ofif the raft, and hasten to the shore 

 with the harpoon-line, and take a " round turn" with it about 

 a tree or bunch of reeds, so that the animal may either be 

 "brought up" at once, or, should there be too great a strain 

 on the line, "played" (to liken small things to great) in the 

 same manner as the salmon by the fisherman. But if time 

 should not admit of the line being passed around a tree, or 

 the like, both line and "buoy" are thrown into the water, 

 and the animal goes wheresoever he chooses. 



The rest of the canoes are now all launched from off the 

 raft, and chase is given to the poor brute, who, so soon as he 

 comes to the surface to breathe, is saluted with a shower of 

 light javelins, of which the following wood-cut is a sample. 

 Again he descends, his track deeply crimsoned with gore. 

 Presently, and perhaps at some little distance, he once more 

 appears on the surface, when, as before, missiles of all kinds 

 are hurled at his devoted head. 



TDE SPEAK. 



"When thus beset, the infuriated beast not unfrequently 

 turns upon his assailants, and, either with his formidable 

 tusks, or with a blow from his enormous head, staves in or 

 capsizes the canoes. At times, indeed, not satisfied with 



