THE PACHYDERMS 77 



two or three miles of river two or three hundred 

 may be encountered in different schools. They 

 are by no means amiable animals, especially when 

 they have been hunted or shot at, and many fatal 

 accidents happen with them. On the Botletli a 

 broad and deep river I found natives extremely 

 chary of going near them in their frail dug-out 

 canoes, and, so far from thinking of attacking these 

 animals in mid-stream, they allow strong schools of 

 them to go up and down to and from Lake Ngami 

 without attempting to molest them. On a narrow 

 river, however, they are easily shot, and in many 

 parts of Mashonaland, since Lobengula's overthrow, 

 hippopotami have been exterminated by the hundred 

 without difficulty. Even in rivers where they are 

 little molested hippo will occasionally attack and 

 overturn a canoe in sheer wantonness ; with their 

 cavernous mouths and huge teeth they are most 

 formidable monsters, and one of these animals has 

 been known to sever a man in half without difficulty. 

 From the point of view of the sportsman, hippo 

 shooting is of little account, after the first novelty has 

 worn off. On land they are, of course, easily dis- 

 posed of by a shot in the heart or lungs. In the 

 water, when a very small portion of the head is 

 usually exposed, some skill in shooting is necessary. 

 A bullet between the eyes, or between the eye and the 

 ear, or in the eye alone, or behind the ear, or at the 

 back of the head, planted between the ears, will 

 usually reach the brain. Mr. Neumann once shot 

 four of these monsters with the .303 in four con- 



