148 DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 



The boatmen were promised a present of beads to induce them to 

 approach the fall as close as possible, and they succeeded in bringing- 

 the canoe to within about three hundred yards of the base, but the 

 power of the current and the force of the whirlpools prevented their 

 going nearer. A sandbank on their left was literally covered with 

 crocodiles, w^hich had no fear of the canoe till it came within twenty 

 yards of them, and then they slowly crept into the water, all except 

 one — an enormous fellow who lazily lagged behind, and who dropped 

 dead immediately as a bullet struck him in the brain. The boatmen 

 were alarmed at the unexpected report of the rifle, and sought shelter 

 in the body of the canoe, not one of them using a paddle, and nothing 

 would induce them to attend to the boat, especially as a second shot 

 had been fired as a quietus, and they could not tell how often the 

 alarming noise might be repeated. They were therefore at the mercy 

 of the powerful stream, and the canoe was whisked round by the 

 eddy and carried against a thick bank of high reeds. They had 

 scarcely touched it when a tremendous commotion took place in the 

 rushes, and in an instant a great bull hippopotamus charged the 

 canoe, and with a severe shock striking the bottom he lifted them half 

 out of the water. The natives w^ho were in the bottom of the boat 

 positively yelled w'ith terror, not knowing whether the shock might 

 not in some way be connected with the dreaded report of the rifle. 



A few kicks bestowed by Baker's angry men upon the recumbent 

 boatmen restored them to the perpendicular, and the first thing neces- 

 sary w^as to hunt for a lost paddle which was floating down the rapid 

 current. The hippopotamus, proud of having disturbed them, raised 

 his head to take a last view' of his enemy, but sunk too rapidly to 

 piermit a shot. Crocodile heads of enormous size were to be seen in 

 all directions, and it would have been good sport to these monsters if 

 the bull hippopotamus had been successful in his attempt to capsize 

 the canoe. Baker prevailed upon the boatmen to keep the canoe 

 steady while he made a sketch of the Murchison Falls, which being 

 completed they drifted rapidly dow^n to the landing-place at the 

 deserted fishing-village, and bade adieu to the navigation of the lake 

 and river of Central Africa. 



