HIPPOPOTAMUS STEAK. 153 



II 15 popotamus steak ? " proposed the mate; and 

 as uo one dissented, we got the axes, and after 

 considerable chopping and hacking, cut off the 

 lead, when we were enabled to cut ourselves about 

 twenty -five pounds of what appeared to be toler- 

 ably tender meat, off the fore quarter. 



With this supply, an_d some tusks which tht 

 natives gave -us, we proceeded on board to relate 

 our adventure. Our steaks were cooked for sup- 

 per; and whether it was that we were blessed 

 with an unusually good appetite, that the cook 

 excelled himself on that occasion, or that the meat 

 was actually well flavored, certain it is that the 

 steaks were delicious. 



We paid some further visits to the shore, but at 

 the captain's orders, kept out of the way of the 

 river-horses, as he did not choose to risk a boat, 

 and perhaps her crew, where no profit was to be 

 gained. We gathered from the natives that the 

 Hippopotami infested the country about there in 

 great herds, and often in one night destroyed all 

 the rice fields in the neighborhood. We were 

 .shown two large pits, on the borders of a field, in 

 which already several had been caught. These 

 holes are dug by the natives with sticks and 

 rough wooden spades. Sharp stakes are driven 

 in the bottom ; the whole trap is covered over 

 with boughs of trees and old wood, that it may took 

 like part of the path which the beasts make in 

 their daily peregrinations down to the water side, 

 and it is complete. As the troop comes up fron 



