152 WHALING AND FISHING. 



When we here viewed the giant, and thought of the 

 singular agility he had displayed in the water, we 

 could not help acknowledging to one another that 

 to get among a school of Hippopotami would bo 

 rather a desperate game. 



On measuring, we found our prize to be a few 

 inches less than fifteen feet long from his head to 

 the commencement of his short, hairless tail. We 

 could not measure his girth, but his bulk was 

 enormous. His legs were disproportionately 

 short, giving him, conjointly with his short neck 

 and very large head, an awkward, stolid appear- 

 ance, which the agility he displayed in the water 

 by no means justified. His skin was very thick 

 and very tough, and almost altogether devoid of 

 hair. His head was shaped a little like that of an 

 ox, but his mouth was very large, and furnished, 

 aside from a set of stout grinders, with four tusks, 

 two on each jaw, from ten to twelve inches long, 

 which, together with a peculiarly dull, savage ex- 

 pression of the eye, gave him a most wicked 

 appearance. 



We had not been long on shore, when several 

 natives made their appearance. They testified 

 much joy at sight of our prize, and went through 

 a most lively pantomime, from which we gathered 

 that the beasts were a great plague to them, that 

 the meat was good to eat, and that they would 

 like a portion. The hint was not lost upon us, 

 who had not tasted fresh beef for some six months. 



" What say you, boys, will you try a piece of 



