408 SWINE GROUP 



the ridge of mud in a modern track. In certain places on these rock- 

 paths, where a sudden ascent had to be made to a higher ledge, the 

 edges of the higher levels of hard rock are beautifully polished by the 

 bellies of the numbers of hippopotamuses which, in the course of ages, 

 have rubbed against them. 



" Where hippopotamuses have never been fired at, they are tame, 

 and even inquisitive. I once found a herd in a small rock-pool on the 

 lower Umfuli river, the members of which had probably never seen a 

 man with clothes on before, as they showed no fear whatever, but, as I 

 sat on a rock at the edge of the pool, came up within a few yards, and 

 remained with their heads in full view for a long time, staring stolidly 

 at the unwonted sight, and continually twitching their little ears. In 

 large rivers like the Zambesi, Shir, or Chobi, where the hippopotamuses 

 have been hunted by the natives for ages, they are usually wide 

 awake, and often inclined to be vicious. Natives, indeed, endeavour 

 to give them a wide berth when travelling with loaded canoes, and 

 the mishaps that are continually taking place prove that they have 

 reason for this caution. Canoes are doubtless sometimes overturned 

 accidentally by hippopotamuses, as they rise to the surface to take 

 breath, but old bulls and cows with young calves often attack canoes 

 most viciously/ and, after capsizing them, will sometimes pursue and 

 kill by a bite one or more of their occupants. A hippopotamus-cow 

 with a small calf attacked my canoe on the upper Zambesi in 1888 ; 

 she first came up beneath it, throwing one end out of the water, then 

 made a second attack, and, raising her huge head aloft, laid it across 

 the canoe, which sank. This was in October, and the calf must have 

 been newly born ; but whether this is the usual time of year for these 

 animals to calve, or whether they calve every year, I do not know. 

 When very young, hippopotamus-calves seem to stand on their mothers' 

 shoulders in the water, as sometimes a tiny head will be seen to appear 

 on the surface and take breath, just before the head of the parent is 

 raised a little in front. Hippopotamuses are usually found in small 

 herds of from four or five to a dozen, but I have repeatedly seen as 

 many as twenty, or even thirty in one herd. The old bulls often live 

 alone, and are very noisy at nights ; their loud grunting bellow being 

 one of the most familiar sounds on an African river. Towards the 

 end of the rainy season, about March or April in South Africa, both 

 sexes become excessively fat, and the meat of a young cow in good 

 condition is then exceedingly good, better, in my opinion, than that of 

 any antelope. An old bull is always tough and usually lean. Hippo- 

 potamus-meat is dark red in colour, and in flavour more resembles beef 



