THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 273 



but whether his hind-legs were resting on the bottom or not I 

 was unable to make out, as I had no means of testing the 

 depth of the water. 



The spots at which to aim in order to penetrate the brain 

 are various, and depend entirely on the position of the beast's 

 head when fired at. If it should be facing the sportsman, he 

 should aim between the eyes or at the eye ; if broadside on, 

 in a line between the eye and the ear if diagonally towards 

 him, at the eye ; if diagonally away from him, behind the ear ; 

 and if straight away from him, at the base of the big lump of 

 flesh that shows up at the back of the head between the ears. 

 Either an accurate Martini or a '450 Express with a solid 

 bullet is a first-rate weapon for this sport. When killed, 

 hippos always sink, and the time that elapses before they rise 

 may vary considerably from one to as much as six hours, 

 depending both on the temperature and depth of the water and 

 also on the condition of the animal. Hippos, when shot in 

 the head and not killed outright, often behave in an extra- 

 ordinary way. They will rear up out of the water, fall back- 

 wards, and float, belly upwards, on the surface, lashing out 

 with their short stumpy legs, or rolling over and over, churn- 

 ing up the water in a marvellous manner, and will drown 

 through being unable to raise their heads, in this stunned con- 

 dition, above water. Their movements are, however, so rapid 

 that it is seldom they offer a chance for a shot at the head, 

 though they often expose the greater part of the body. The 

 sportsman should therefore always have a heavy rifle with him 

 to enable him to dispatch them with a shot through the lungs, 

 as the beasts, being only stunned by the bullet passing close 

 to the brain, will often recover sufficiently to enable them to 

 escape for the time, though they will probably die in the end. 



I have only once had a wounded hippo attempt to get out 

 of the water at me, but as I was on the river bank, a foot or two 

 above it, it never had a chance, and dropped dead to a shot 

 between the eyes. My friend Mr. Gedge was once charged 

 in a most determined manner by a wounded cow. As it was 



I. T 



