LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



remain submersed does not appear to have been 

 accurately defined ; but as the animal walks lei- 

 surely about at the bottom of a river, from five to 

 ten minutes may probably be spent by it when 

 disposed to remain so long without coming up.* 



Sparrmann and Mr. Gumming are conspicuous 

 among those who have recorded the habits of the 

 hippopotamus in a state of nature. The latter, in 

 his wild and wonderful book, most graphically 

 describes them. 



Look on this scene : 



When the sun went down, the sea-cows com- 

 menced a march up the river. They passed along 

 opposite to my camp, making the most extraordi- 

 nary sounds blowing, snorting and roaring, some- 

 times crashing through the reeds, and sometimes 

 swimming gently, and splashing and sporting 

 through the water. There being a little moonlight, 

 1 went down with my man Carey, and sat some- 

 time on the river's bank contemplating these won- 

 derful monsters of the river. It was a truly grand 

 and very extraordinary scene ; the opposite bank 

 of the stream was clad with trees of gigantic size 

 and great beauty, which added greatly to the in- 

 terest of the picture. Vol. ii., p. 167. 



And again, at p. 171 : 



At every turn there occurred deep, still pools, 

 with occasional sandy islands densely clad with 

 lofty reeds, and with banks covered with reeds to a 

 breadth of thirty yards. Above and beyond these 

 reeds, stood trees of immense age and gigantic size, 

 beneath which grew a long and very rank descrip- 

 tion of grass, on which the sea-cow delights to pas- 

 ture. I soon found fresh spoor,f and after holding 

 on for several miles, just as the sun was going 

 down, and as I entered a dense reed cover, I came 

 upon the fresh lairs of four hippopotami. They 

 had been lying sleeping on the margin of the river, 

 and, on hearing me come crackling through the 

 reeds, had plunged into deep water. I at once as- 

 certained that they were newly started, for the 

 froth aod bubbles were still on the spot where they 

 had plunged in. Next moment I heard them blow- 

 ing a little way down the river. I then headed 

 them, and with considerable difficulty, owing to the 

 cover and the reeds, I at length came right down 

 above where they were standing. It was a broad 

 part of the river, with a sandy bottom, and the 

 water came halfway up their sides. There were 

 four of them, three cows and an old bull ; they 

 stood in the middle of the river, and, though 

 alarmed, did not appear aware of the extent of the 

 impending danger. 



It would be unjust to this painter with a pen, 

 to omit the following grand picture, or to present 

 it in any other than the vivid form which it takes 

 under his hand : 



We had proceeded about two miles, when we 

 came upon some most thoroughly-beaten, old-estab- 

 lished hippopotamus paths, and presently, in a 

 broad, long, deep, and shaded pool of the river ,J 

 we heard the sea-cows bellowing. There I beheld 

 one of the most wondrous and interesting sights 



* It is probably reserved for Professor Owen to detect 

 and describe the natural apparatus which enables the hip- 

 popotamus to remain underwater; but we hope it will 

 be a long time before he will have it in his power to solve 

 the problem. 



t Tracks. * The Limpopo. 



that a sportsman can be blest with. I at once knew 

 that there must be an immense herd of them, for 

 the voices came from different parts of the pool ; 

 so, creeping in through the bushes to obtain an in- 

 spection, a large sandy island appeared at the neck 

 of the pool, on which stood several large shady 

 trees. 



The neck of the pool was very wide and shallow, 

 with rocks and large stones ; below it was deep 

 and still. On a sandy promontory of this island, 

 stood about thirty cows and calves, whilst in the 

 pool opposite, and a little below them, stood about 

 twenty more sea-cows, with their heads and backs 

 above water. About fifty yards further down the 

 river again, showing out their heads, were eight 

 or ten immense fellows, which I think were all 

 bulls ; and about one hundred yards below these, 

 in the middle of the stream, stood another herd of 

 about eight or ten cows with calves, and two huge 

 bulls. The sea-cows lay close together like pigs ; 

 a favorite position was to rest their heads on their 

 comrades' sterns and sides. The herds were at- 

 tended by an immense number of the invariable 

 rhinoceros birds, which, on observing me, did their 

 best to spread alarm through the hippopotami. 1 

 was resolved to select, if possible, a first-rate old 

 bull out of this vast herd, and I accordingly de- 

 layed firing for nearly two hours, continually run- 

 ning up and down behind the thick thorny cover, 

 and attentively studying the heads. At length 1 

 determined to go close in, and select the best head 

 out of the eight or ten bulls which lay below the 

 cows. I accordingly left the cover, and walked 

 slowly forward in full view of the whole herd, to 

 the water's edge, where I lay down on my belly, 

 and studied the heads of these bulls. The cows, 

 on seeing me, splashed into the water, and kept a 

 continual snorting and blowing till night set in. 

 P. 194. 



Upon another occasion (p. 218) Mr. Gumming 

 fell in with a herd of about thirty hippopotami 

 they lay upon some rocks in the middle of a very 

 long and broad pool ; and, again, with at least 

 thirty lying upon the rocks in the middle of e 

 river. He describes the noise made by the hip- 

 popotami as similar to that of the musical instru- 

 ment called a serpent. The following truculent 

 trap will be as new to most of my readers as it is 

 to me : 



On the 20th (July) I again rode down the river 

 to the pool, and found a herd of sea-cows still there ; 



I remained with them till sun-down, and bagged 

 two very first-rate old sea-cows, which were forth- 

 :oming next day. This day I detected a most dan- 

 gerous trap> constructed by the Bakalahari for slay- 

 ing sea-cows. It consisted of a sharp little assagai, 

 or spike, most thoroughly poisoned, and stuck 

 irmly into the end of a heavy block of thorn wood, 

 about four feet long, and five inches in diameter. 

 This formidable affiiir was suspended over the cen- 

 tre of a sea-cow path, at a height of about thirty 

 feet from the ground, by a bark cord, which passed 

 over a high branch of a tree, and thence to a peg 

 on one side of the path beneath, leading across the 

 path to a peg on the other side, where it was fas- 

 ;ened. To the. suspending cord were two triggers, 

 so constructed, that when the sea-cow struck 

 against the cord which led across the path, the 

 heavy block above was set at liberty, which in- 

 stantly dropped with immense force with its poi- 



