-* The Hippopotamus 



that for hours together they found safety by keeping 

 under the water, only stretching out their nostrils for 

 a second above the surface every now and again. Under 

 such conditions you must wait for a time until they are 

 rash enough to show their eyes and ears. Only then 

 can you get a shot at them that will kill. 



It is most remarkable how long they can remain 

 without showing more than their nostrils above the 

 surface all the rest of them invisible to the sportsman 

 waiting barely twenty paces away. A snort and squirting 

 up of water are the only signs of their existence. They 

 can hold out for a long time with a minimum of air. 



On the occasion of my last visit to the Merker Lakes 

 I succeeded in taking several photographs of hippo- 

 potamuses in the water. I had a shot, too, at a very 

 old bull " by special permission," and killed him with 

 a single bullet in the ear. 



I found, however, a man named De Wet (believed 

 to be a Boer) engaged on behalf of a Greek merchant 

 in slaughtering the rest of the animals in order to secure 

 their teeth and their skins, which are cut into strips, for 

 trading purposes. 



Though quite without means, according to his own 

 account of himself, this man had nevertheless been 

 allowed to cross the frontier, equipped for shooting, and 

 to pass through the Moshi station to the lakes ; and, 

 extraordinary to relate, he seems to have been let off the 

 regular shooting-tax imposed in the case of marabous, 

 on the ground that he declared he was able to catch 

 these birds and set them free again after despoiling 



267 



