THE LAST FRONTIER 



Landing trails had been made leading out from the 

 water by easy and regular grades. These trails 

 were about two feet wide and worn a foot or so deep. 

 They differed from the rhino trails, from which they 

 could be easily distinguished, in that they showed 

 distinctly two parallel tracks separated from each 

 other by a slight ridge. In other words, the hippo 

 waddles. These trails we found as far as four and 

 five miles inland. They were used, of course, only 

 at night; and led invariably to lush and heavy feed. 

 While we were encamped there, the country on our 

 side the river was not used by our particular herd 

 of hippos. One night, however, we were awakened 

 by a tremendous rending crash of breaking bushes, 

 followed by an instant's silence and then the out- 

 break of a babel of voices. Then we heard a pro- 

 longed sw-i-sh-sh-sh, exactly like the launching of a 

 big boat. A hippo had blundered out the wrong 

 side the river, and fairly into our camp. 



In rivers such as the Tana these great beasts are 

 most extraordinarily abundant. Directly in front 

 of our camp, for example, were three separate herds 

 which contained respectively about sixty, forty, and 

 twenty-five head. Within two miles below camp 

 were three other big pools each with its population; 

 while a walk of a mile above showed about as many 

 more. This sort of thing obtained for practically 



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