HIPPOPOTAMUS SHOOTING. ^ 163 



favorite position was to rest their heads on their com- 

 rades' sterns and sides. The herds were attended by 

 an immense number of the invariable rhinoceros birds, 

 which, on observing me, did their best to spread alarm 

 throughout the hippopotami. I was resolved to select, 

 if possible, a first-rato old bull out of this vast herd, and 

 I accordingly delayed firing for nearly two hours, con- 

 tinually running up and down behind the thick thorny 

 cover, and attentively studying the heads. At length 

 I determined to go close in and select the best head out 

 of the eight or ten bulls which lay below the cows. I 

 accordingly left the cover and walked slowly forward 

 in full view of the whole herd to the water's edge, 

 where I lay down on my belly and studied the heads 

 of these bulls. The cows, on seeing me, splashed into 

 the water, and kept up a continual snorting and blow- 

 ing till night set in. 



After selecting for a few minutes, I fired my first 

 shot at a splendid bull,, and sent the ball in a little be- 

 hind the eye. He was at once incapacitated, and kept 

 plunging and swimming round and round, wearing 

 away down the pool, until I finished him with two 

 more shots. The whole pool was now in a state of in- 

 tense commotion. The best cows and the bulls at once 

 became very shy and cunning, showing only the flat 

 roofs of their heads, and sometimes only their nostrils. 

 The younger cows were not so shy, producing the 

 whole head ; and if had wished to make a bag, I might 

 nave shot an immense number. This, however, was 

 not my object ; and as there was likely to be a diffi- 

 culty in securing what I did kill, I determined only to 

 fire at the very. best. When, therefore, the sun went 

 down, I had not fired a great many shots, but had 

 bagged five first-rate hippopotami, four cows and one 



