30 HUNTING TRIPS IN NORTHERN RHODESIA. 



I left Gwazas after saying good-bye to B., who had done his best to tell me of 

 the best shooting grounds. 



About lo a.m. I got to a place named Matope and went on and pitched the tent 

 near to Matiti Hill, close to the Shire. A number of crocodiles were basking on the 

 rocks close to the rapids, which are called the Murchison Falls. The sound of the 

 water rushing over the rocks was very pleasant — in fact, the mere presence of water 

 seems to make one feel cooler in Central Africa At i p.m. I went out to try and 

 shoot my first hippo, as a man had located a few near. I had sent this man off on the 

 previous Saturday to find out the whereabouts of the hippo, and he now told 

 me there were four quite near. On getting close we heard the animals grunting, 

 and soon sighted them rising and sinking in a deep pool. As there is never any 

 hurry about hippo shooting 1 waited for a good chance, and hit one between the eye 

 and ear. The bullet told with a thud, and the hippo went under without giving 

 a kick. 



Although I had never shot one before, I knew he was done for, so fired at 

 another, but he splashed — which is a bad sign — for when the brain is punctured there 

 is hardly any commotion. Being rather hungry, and knowing the shot hippo would 

 not rise for an hour or so, I went to the tent and had some lunch. On returning, I 

 saw it stranded in the middle of the river, so the men went in and brought it ashore. 

 It turned out to be a female, and I found the bullet had struck it close to the right 

 eye, passing through the brain. I have since shot many hippos, and I like the shot 

 at the back of the head best, although when the animals are frightened they nearly 

 always rise facing the danger. After cutting off a few slabs of hide with which to 

 make chickjtis (whips), I let the men who had collected chop away at the meat, 

 which they did with a vengeance. While the meat carnival was going on I strolled 

 along the river bank admiring the scenery. I fired at two crocodiles, but only 

 recovered one of them, the other having enough strength left to get back into the 

 river. The scenery was really beautiful, there being numbers of baobab trees, palms, 

 cactus, and other tropical trees about, and some of the shrubs were covered with 

 lovely red flowers. The grass was long near the river, and each stem had a 

 feathery top. Altogether the scene was one it would be difficult to forget, although 

 I h^ve seen many a similar one since. My cook having decamped for reasons only 

 known to himself, I had only a small boy left, whose usual work was to wash the 

 dishes and plates. He now got an important rise in position, for hevvas installed as 

 cook, and I took on the work of plate-washer. I dined on hippo meat and sardines, 

 washed down by. copious cups of tea. This /ivas a pretty camp, but; there were top 

 raany.mos.quitoe.s ^a^id sapdflies. about to make the evenings quite enjoyable. ..The 



