" HIPPOS " 153 



fire when the animal's head appears; while the 

 method of the natives is to chase it in one or 

 more canoes and with spears literally torture 

 it to death. 



While more numerous in large waterways, 

 the hippo also inhabits small watercourses and 

 even small pools, and during the dry season is 

 forced to seek the deep, isolated pools that occur 

 in the semi-dry river beds, where it falls an easy 

 prey to the blacks. 



The female hippo produces but one or two 

 young at a time, and probably does not breed 

 more than once in two years, if, in fact, as often 

 as that. As all of the large lakes and water- 

 ways have been traversed by explorers and 

 sportsmen for many years, one might naturally 

 conclude, after what has been said, that the 

 hippo would have been exterminated long ago. 



The natural habitat of the hippo is the low- 

 land lakes and rivers and the deep, narrow 

 streams bordered with dense aquatic vegeta- 

 tion that extends some distance into the water. 

 Here it is that the hippo spends the day, hidden 

 in the weeds and papyrus, or floating leisurely 

 on the surface, or basking on the bank. Some- 

 times you will see him floating with only the 



