METHODS OF KILLING THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 437 



did not ever and anon one or the other of them plunge and re- 

 appear, are seen dispersed over the troubled waters. On glides 

 the raft, its crew worked up to the highest pitch of excitement, 

 and at length reaches the herd, which, perfectly unconscious of 

 danger, continue to enjoy their sports. Presently one of the 

 animals is in immediate contact with the raft. Now is the 

 critical moment; the foremost harpooner raises himself to his 

 full height to give the greater force to the blow, and the next 

 instant the iron descends with unerring accuracy, and is buried 

 deep in the body of the bellowing hippopotamus. The wounded 

 animal plunges violently and dives to the bottom, but all its 

 efforts to escape are as ineffectual as those of the seal when 

 pierced with the barbed iron of the Grreenlander. 



As soon as it is struck, one or more of the men launch a 

 canoe from off the raft, and hastening to the shore with the 

 harpoon line, take a round turn with it about a tree, so that the 

 animal may either be brought up at once, or should there be too 

 great a strain on the line, " played," like a trout or salmon by 

 the fisherman. Sometimes both line and buoy are cast into 

 the water, and all the canoes being launched from off the raft, 

 chase is given to the poor brute, who whenever he comes to 

 the surface is saluted with a shower of javelins. A long trail 

 of blood marks his progress, his flight becomes slower and slower, 

 his breathing more oppressive, until at last, his strength ebbing 

 away through fifty wounds, he floats dead on the surface. 



But as the whale will sometimes turn upon his assailants, so 

 also the hippopotamus not seldom makes a dash at his perse- 

 cutors, and either with his tusks, or with a blow from his head, 

 staves in or capsizes the canoe. Sometimes even, not satisfied 

 with wreaking his vengeance on the craft, he seizes one or 

 other of the crew, and with a single grasp of his jaws, either 

 terribly mutilates the poor wretch or even cuts his body fairly 

 in two. 



The natives of Southern Africa also resort to the ingenious 

 plan of destroying the hippopotamus by means of a downfall, 

 consisting of a log of wood with stones attached to it to increase 

 its weight, and a harpoon affixed to its lower end. This formid- 

 able weapon depends from the branch of an overhanging tree 

 by means of a line, which is then made to cross horizontally the 

 pathway which the hippopotamus is in the habit of frequenting 



