GLIMPSES OF EAST AFRICA AND ZANZIBAR 



ment, and then down to camp was the worst I have 

 ever had ; my heel was sore, and my boots without 

 nails, slipped back every step I took on the dry 

 grass. The midday smi poured down on to 

 us, as we did not get back till one o'clock. I 

 longed to sink down like a mushroom under my 

 sun umbrella, and weep salt tears of weariness. 

 Only the thought of what my husband and the 

 porters would think, restrained me, and I plodded 

 on. 



While my husband was busy next day after a 

 bushbuck, I waited half-way up the hill, and heard 

 the strangest of grunts coming from the lake. My 

 heart beat fast and I looked through my glasses in 

 great excitement, to see a lot of hippos in the water. 

 My husband went after them later, but the swamp 

 was too bad, deep in water and full of rushes, to get 

 near. He went in up to his waist, and then felt that 

 he would be absolutely at the hippos' mercy if they 

 charged him in their own element, no escape being 

 possible ; so, as he could not get near otherwise, he 

 gave it up ; although my imagination had already 

 made a nice gong out of a pair of their tusks. 

 Shooting hippos from a boat in the water is not 

 great sport, as the shock of the first bullet stuns 

 them and they go under water to drown, and after 

 a few hours their body rises, and then one's porters 

 drag it ashore. The poor beast has no chance. 

 But on land it is a different affair ; there they are 



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