HIPPO-HUNTERS 281 



in the accompanying illustration one of my intrepreters, 

 Warsama and Adarar, may be seen laughing at the left- 

 hand man of the group, who feared the camera devil so 

 much that he is covering not only his mouth but his 

 nostrils in order to keep him out. I bought from these 

 men a couple of whips and one of their spears, and, after 

 much persuasion, a harpoon with the poison on it, but 

 not till they had nearly palmed off on me the one they 

 had used for the last animal killed, from which all the 

 poison had been absorbed. 



The phenacetin I had administered had worked 

 wonders on Belat Wurgie, and he was so much better 

 that he announced his intention of leaving for his home 

 next day ; so I presented him with a roll of cotton- 

 sheeting and a little bag of dollars, with which he seemed 

 much pleased. Late in the afternoon I went out to 

 the end of the little rocky promontory which formed the 

 northern boundary of the bay we were camping on. 

 This was densely covered with bush and was said to 

 hold pig. The only paths were those formed by hippo, 

 across which pits had been dug in every direction, and 

 planted with sharp stakes, but I noticed that all of them 

 were out of repair. The natives said the hippos had 

 grown too cunning, and they no longer caught any in 

 the traps, unless it might be a wounded animal, blinded 

 with pain and fear, while bolting back to the water. We 

 saw no pig, but basking in the sun in shallow water 

 were a school of eleven hippo. We lay and watched 

 them, and very curious were the gambols of two calves, 

 as they tried to scramble on the old ones' backs, who 

 would quietly roll over and send them plump back into 



