HIPPOPOTAMUS 403 



" Wart-hogs usually run in pairs, or family parties consisting of 

 two or three sows and their young ; old boars are, however, more or 

 less solitary throughout ten months of the year. It is a singular fact 

 that, although she has but four teats and only brings forth three or 

 four young in a litter, six or eight young are often seen accompanying 

 a single sow. The sow always litters in a burrow of some sort. The 

 flesh of a fat wart-hog is excellent, though a trifle hard ; and that of 

 a young one is particularly tasty. 



"Although it is poor fun shooting wart-hog, good sport might 

 sometimes be obtained by riding them, were it not for their invariable 

 custom of going to earth. They are easily killed with a bullet, and 

 their smooth gliding trot makes them an easy mark even when going 

 fast. They have not a fraction of the pluck of a bush-pig, but are 

 sufficiently vicious to be awkward customers to knife when wounded. 

 This requires quickness, as they can bite most severely. 



" When hunting on one occasion in the Matamiri bush, I wounded 

 a boar and chased him to earth in a shallow burrow ; then, crouching 

 down in front of the hole, I drove an assegai into his throat, but being 

 a light weapon, the haft broke and the hog at once charged out, ran 

 between my legs, and knocked me down. As I fell I seized one 

 hind-leg, when he instantly whipped round and inflicted a nasty 

 wound on one of the ' boys/ thinking, perhaps, that it was he who 

 had hold of the leg. The second ' boy ' saved the situation by assegai- 

 ing the brute before further harm was done." 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 



{Hippopotamus nmphibius) 



Dorina, HAUSA ; Dul, DANAKIL ; Gumari, ABYSSINIAN ; Gerunt, 

 SUDANI ; Ikubu, BASUTO ; Imvubu, SWAZI ; //>, SOMALI ; 

 Kiboko, SwAHILI ; Macow, MASAI ; Moubou, WAG AN DA ; 

 Mourvu, CniLALA ; Robi, GALLA ; Tumunto> M'KUA ; Zee-koc, 

 CAPE DUTCH. 



(PLATE i, figs. 3 and 7) 



While all the swine are grouped in a family (Suida) by themselves, 

 the hippopotamus typifies a second and much smaller family 

 (Hippopotamida\ distinguished from the former by numerous and easily 

 recognised characters, some of which are, however, of an adaptive 



