120 HIPPO AND LEOPARD [ch. v 



and does not rise to the surface for several hours. 

 Accordingly, back we walked to the house. 



At sunrise next morning Cuninghame, Judd, and 

 I, with a crowd of porters, were down at the spot. 

 There was a very leaky boat in which we three 

 embarked, intending to drift and paddle downstream 

 while the porters walked along the bank. We did not 

 have far to go, for as we rounded the first point we 

 heard the porters break into guttural exclamations ot 

 delight, and there ahead of us, by a little island of 

 papyrus, was the dead hippo. With the help of the 

 boat, it was towed to a convenient landing-place, and 

 then the porters dragged it ashore. It was a cow, of 

 good size for one dwelling in a small river, where they 

 never approach the dimensions of those making their 

 homes in a great lake like the V^ictoria Nyanza. This 

 one weighed nearly two thousand eight hundred pounds, 

 and I could well believe that a big lake bull would 

 weigh between three and four tons. 



In wild regions hippos rest on sandy bars, and even 

 come ashore to feed, by day ; but wherever there are 

 inhabitants they land to feed only at night. Those in 

 the Rewero continually entered JMcMillan's garden. 

 Where they are numerous they sometimes attack small 

 boats and kill the people in tliem ; and where they are 

 so plentiful they do great damage to the plantations of 

 the natives, so much so that they then have to be taken 

 off the list of preserved game and their destruction 

 encouraged. Their enormous jaws sweep in quantities 

 of plants, or lush grass, or corn or vegetables, at a 

 mouthful, while their appetite is as gigantic as their 

 body. In spite of their short legs, they go at a good 

 gait on shore, but the water is their real home, and 

 they always seek it when alarmed. They dive and float 



