Heart or Brain Shots 



Now I was rather in a fix, for this reason. It 

 is very difficult at any time to hit a hippopotamus 

 in exactly the right spot. When he is on dry 

 land you naturally aim for the heart, but when 

 swimming or floating in the water all that can be 

 seen is the broad plane of his ugly square face, 

 capped by two absurdly small ears, which protrude 

 an inch or two above the water. It is therefore 

 necessary to aim for the brain, and this can be 

 effectively accomplished by shooting up the nostril 

 — the surest road to the brain — if the hippopotamus 

 is swimming towards you, or just below the ear if 

 presenting a broadside target. 



Therefore from my exalted position I was 

 standing too far above them to get in a really 

 good shot. I selected a fine, big specimen, and 

 watching my opportunity, I fired. He appeared 

 to me to sink like a stone, whilst the remainder, 

 bobbing down, made off in the direction of the 

 island in the centre of the lake. 



Now when a hippopotamus has been shot he 

 sinks at once and his dead carcase does not rise 

 to the surface for about six hours, so that it is 

 necessary to have natives continually on the look- 

 out, searching up and down the bank and amongst 

 the reeds. Night fell almost immediately after with 

 tropical suddeness, so that I had to leave the hunt 

 until the morrow, and to return to my tent for a tub 

 and a meal. While I was quietly settling down to J"^ 

 the latter a dark form noiselessly presented itself 

 before me, and standing to attention, placed his 



213 



