1038 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



with its tusks in the bottom of the vessel. The same writer also relates that a hip- 

 popotamus once struck the bottom of a "dugout" canoe measuring twenty-seven 

 feet in length with such force as to lift it partially out of the water. The most ex- 

 traordinary incident of wanton maliciousness on the part of these animals is, how- 

 ever, one also recorded by Sir S. Baker. His natives were swimming a herd of 

 about twenty cattle across the Nile, when they were suddenly attacked by a party 

 of hippopotami, some of which seized with open jaws several of the cows and dragged 

 them beneath the water, never to reappear. 



As already mentioned, the ancient Egyptians were in the habit of 

 harpooning the hippopotamus, and this custom is still kept up by the 

 Sudanis on the Upper Nile. The usual plan when a party of these animals has been 

 observed in the river, is for a couple of hunters, each armed with a harpoon to 

 which a line is attached, to enter the river some distance above, and swim cautiously 

 down on the herd. When within striking distance, both men hurl their weapons at 

 the same time. To each line is attached a wooden float, which marks the position 

 of the animal while below the surface, and the chase is taken up by other hunters 

 on the bank armed with harpoons and lances. By an ingenious arrangement, the 

 float is at length captured by a rope and the animal dragged to shore, where it is 

 dispatched with lances. This, however, Sir S. Baker states, is frequently not 

 accomplished without the death of one or more of the intrepid hunters. In Central 

 Africa; on the other hand, the hippopotamus is harpooned from canoes. In other 

 parts the favorite method is to suspend a weighted spear, frequently tipped with 

 poison, over a branch of a tree near the tracks of the hippopotamus, and to make 

 fast the end of the line, to which it is attached, to stakes on either side of the path. 

 When the animal comes along, it strikes against the line, the stakes are loosened, 

 and the heavy spear comes down with a thud on its head or back. Yet another plan, 

 is to construct pitfalls in the paths frequented by these animals, and to cover them 

 over carefully on the top with boughs, reeds, or grass. 



The most cruel method is, however, one sometimes employed by the Kaffirs of 

 Southeastern Africa, who, as Mr. Selous relates, are in the habit of starving the un- 

 fortunate brutes. They select a pool in a river where the bottom is sandy, and 

 consequently where there is no vegetation; and for choice they prefer a pool with a 

 high bank on one side. Having driven or watched a party of hippopotami into such 

 a pool, the Kaffirs form a hedge round the open sides, and thus render egress impos- 

 sible. Mr. Selous states that on one occasion he came across such a pool, where, so 

 far as he could ascertain, the animals had been inclosed for about three weeks. 

 When his party reached the scene of operations there were still ten living hippo- 

 potami in the pool. " Eight of these seemed to be standing on the bank in the 

 middle of the water, as more than half their bodies were exposed; the poor brutes 

 were all huddled up in a mass, each with his upraised head resting on another's 

 body. Two more were swimming about, each with a very heavily-shafted assagai 

 sticking in his back; these assagais are plunged into them at night when the starving 

 beasts come near the fences seeking for a means of exit from their horrible prison." 



Europeans are in the habit of shooting hippopotami with rifles, but most who 

 have tried this sport agree that, when the novelty has worn off, it is not of a very 



