168 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



we could see plainly for some distance; so, 

 clad in our pyjamas, we scoured the burned- 

 grass plain looking for the game, but did not 

 find it. 



As before stated, the African natives are able 

 to kill hippos with spears. They also destroy 

 them with poisoned spears, and then patrol the 

 shore for days, waiting for the animal to die 

 and float to the surface, which it does from an 

 hour to three hours after death. 



Captain Hutchinson tells of seeing the natives 

 of the Lake Albert region kill a hippo with 

 spears. They first attacked the animal in open 

 water, and it made into the papyrus and hid. 

 Finally it was driven out, whereupon it charged 

 a canoe and seized one of the natives by the 

 head. Other canoes were in reach, and before 

 it had time to decapitate the man so many 

 spears were driven into its body that it opened 

 its jaws and attacked another boat but was 

 killed before it could do more damage. Strange 

 as it may seem, the man escaped with no more 

 than a badly disfigured face but probably would 

 have died had he not received medical attention 

 from a British army surgeon. 



Killing hippos in this manner is considered 



