" HIPPOS " 161 



lasted about three minutes, then all was silent 

 for some time; but finally I heard a hippo bel- 

 low several rods down the river, and then came 

 the answering bellow of the victorious animal 

 in the papyrus opposite camp. 



It is not at all unusual to find hippos with 

 their heads and bodies badly scarred from 

 wounds received while fighting. 



Kermit and I tried to get some flash-light 

 photographs of hippos, but we were new at 

 this kind of photography, and as we did not 

 have the time to experiment much we failed. 

 One afternoon while we were at work setting up 

 the camera, arranging the flash and the cord 

 that it was intended the hippo should run 

 against, when he came out on the bank at night 

 to feed thereby opening the shutter, setting 

 off the flash, and taking his own picture five 

 hippos appeared in the river opposite us, not 

 more than fifty feet away. They would poke 

 their heads out of water, puff, wiggle their 

 short, pink ears, and after a minute draw in a 

 long breath, close their nostrils, and then sink. 

 They remained in the vicinity for fully half an 

 hour, coming to the surface at intervals of 

 about two minutes and then sinking again. 



