PICCANINNEE. 85 



hippopotamus, who was taking his customary noctur- 

 nal ramble along the bank, finding himself suddenly 

 in the midst of a circle of sleeping Makololos. Their 

 fires had long gone out, and as the night was pitch 

 dark, he knew nothing of the trespassers on his ground 

 till he was right among them. On making the dis- 

 covery he uttered a loud grunt, which made the men 

 jump up and run, and shout like maniacs. Then, 

 plunging into the river close to the stern of the boat, 

 he made its occupants start, seize their arms, and stand 

 wondering what " was up." However, all w^as soon 

 explained, and peace reigned among the travellers 

 once more. 



The following day was but little short of a repeti- 

 tion of what we had been going through since leaving 

 Pamafunda. There was no wind to assist us all the 

 morning, and the Makololos, save Moloka and Chip- 

 pootoolah, were as usual disinclined to work. One 

 of them, who boasts of the name of Piccaninnee 

 (little one), and who is, without exception, the ugliest 

 specimen of humanity it has ever been my lot to as- 

 sociate with — having knocked out his front teeth, as he 

 says, to make himself handsome* — has never touched 

 an oar since we started. He informed Mr. Young 

 this morning that he did not know how to pull, and 

 actually refused to take an oar and learn. Mr. Young 

 then asked him what he could do. He replied, ''No- 

 thing !" He was then told to take the new " Brown 

 Bess " he had been presented with, and fire at a hip- 

 popotamus, in order to ascertain how far he was 



* A habit amongst the Makololos. They break them out with an axe 

 or spear-head when young. The toothless breach is considered a great 

 beauty. 



