334 EFFICIENT PREPARATION IN AMMUNITION AND ARMS 



guns and two twenty-two caliber automatic rifles for small game 

 and for amusement around camp. His shotgun ammunition was 

 specially loaded for him and was in brass shells. The wads had 

 been carefully waterproofed, and instead of the shell being merely 

 crimped over the wad at the end, it had been cut into small flanges 

 and bent over. The wad was covered with wax. This was to pre- 

 vent swelling in the moist climate, which might affect paper shells. 

 Colonel Roosevelt accepted an invitation to camp on the grounds 

 of the Attenborough brothers on Lake Naivasha. The elder of the 

 brothers is Captain Frederick, a retired British naval officer. The 

 younger is H. T. Attenborough, who for twenty years was a resi- 

 dent of San Francisco. The two brothers, who are rich men, have 

 built a splendid European estate and home in the African mountains 

 where they live like feudal lords of old. Their manor house is in 

 the low mountains which fringe the southern shores of Lake Nai- 

 vasha, w^hile their estate runs down to the shores of the lake. 



ROOSEVELT SHOOTS A HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



The Attenboroughs live in a veritable Arabian Nights atmos- 

 phere. They have built a lake of their own, in which they have 

 thirty of the finest specimen of hippopotami in Africa, and it is a 

 rare sight to sit on the banks of this artificial sea and watch the 

 great beasts at play. 



As Colonel Roosevelt was lacking a bull hippopotamus for his 

 bag, the brothers insisted that he shoot one from their lake, the skin 

 being added to the collection being shipped back to the Smithsonian 

 Institute in Washington. 



The hippopotamus is, as the import of its name, " river horse," 

 implies, most aquatic in its habits. It generally prefers fresh water, 

 but it is not at all averse to the sea, and will sometimes prefer salt 

 water to fresh. It is an admirable swimmer and diver, and is able 



« 



to remain below the surface for a considerable length of time. 



In common with the elephant, it possesses the power of sinking 

 at will, which is the more extraordinary when the huge size of the 

 animal is taken into consideration. Perhaps it may be enabled to 

 contract itself by an exertion of the muscles whenever it desires tc 



