XXIII 

 THE HIPPO POOL 



FOR a number of days we camped in a grove 

 just above a dense jungle and not fifty paces 

 from the bank of a deep and wide river. We could 

 at various points push through light low under- 

 growth, or stoop beneath clear limbs, or emerge on 

 tiny open banks and promontories to look out over 

 the width of the stream. The river here was some 

 three or four hundred feet wide. It cascaded down 

 through various large boulders and sluiceways to 

 fall bubbling and boiling into deep water; it then 

 flowed still and sluggish for nearly a half mile and 

 finally divided into channels around a number of 

 wooded islands of different sizes. In the long still 

 stretch dwelt about sixty hippopotamuses of all 

 sizes. 



During our stay these hippos led a life of alarmed 

 and angry care. When we first arrived they were 

 distributed picturesquely on banks or sandbars, or 

 were lying in midstream. At once they disappeared 

 under water. By the end of four or five minutes they 



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