196 HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNTING. 



ened to pay attention to Mr. Roosevelt's commands. Had they been alone they 

 surely would have been lost. But the Colonel realized that to lose one's head 

 in such a situation is to lose one's life. He threw his heavy rifle to his shoulder 

 and sent a solid "405" Winchester bullet over the heads of his crouching and 

 trembling porters right through the brain of the nearest hippo, a magnificent 

 cow, which seemed to be the head of the herd. The buzzing missile killed 

 the huge beast outright, and another bullet performed the same service to a 

 gigantic bull, which seemed intent upon taking a speedy and bloody revenge 

 on the slayer of his mate. Two monster beasts were floating dead at only a 

 few yards' distance from the boat and the rest disappeared from view like 

 magic, for these colossal animals possess the power of diving under the water 

 at will and can bear submersion so long that when they need to come to the 

 surface again for breathing they are too far away to be successfully pursued-. 

 The Colonel's oarsmen were so frightened that he had great difficulty in 

 getting them to approach the two beasts even after they were killed. 



The large bull bagged by Mr. Roosevelt was fourteen feet in length. Its 

 head was about the size of a big traveling trunk. To hit such a big head is of 

 course easy, but to pierce the brain box is difficult because of its small size as 

 compared with the head. A hippo brain weighs only two or three pounds. 



Meanwhile the Colonel's long absence from the camp had caused no little 

 anxiety and his party had set out in a steam launch in search of their lost 

 leader. They did not get back to the camp until next morning, however, for 

 the two carcasses had to be towed in, as they were too valuable to be left adrift 

 till next day and perhaps lost. They were the finest specimens the expedition 

 had secured so far. 



The hippopotamus is chiefly hunted on account of his tusks, which supply 

 the trade with high-grade ivory, which is mostly used in the manufacture of 

 artificial teeth. A hippo tooth weighs about five pounds and is worth from 

 six to ten dollars. Its black hide is also used for various purposes. The na- 

 tives cover their shields with it, for it is impregnable to an arrow and to an 

 ordinary rifle bullet too. From the hippo hide is also made the famous sjam- 

 bok, a most effective African whip used on oxen and natives and comparable 

 only with the Russian knout. It was an instrument of this kind which a na- 

 tive chief advised Dr. Livingstone to use in converting the natives, as he 

 thought preaching was too slow a method. 



Upon the party's return to the camp the two huge beasts were pulled out 

 of the water by a crowd of about 150 natives. One of our illustrations shows 

 a group of natives around the carcass of the huge monster preparing to land 



