THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 45 



apparently without result ; so whether they were poisoned 

 by natives, who were at that time suffering from the 

 starvation consequent on a prolonged drought, and may 

 have wanted the meat, or whether the reason lay in some 

 harmful influence exercised by the partial drying up of 

 the edges of the pan and effect on the food-supply, must 

 remain a mystery. At all events, no more died, and no 

 sign of sickness has at any time since been noticed 

 amongst the survivors. In the rivers of the Transvaal 

 high veld, the Orange Free State and Cape Colony, there 

 are no hippopotami at the present day, and the last 

 existing in Natal, which were preserved in Sea Cow Lake, 

 near Durban, were destroyed in 1898, on the plea that 

 they had become very destructive. 



Hippopotami are thoroughly aquatic animals, and 

 when frightened or disturbed, at once make for their 

 natural element with all speed. During the day, and in 

 places where they are unmolested, they sleep by pre- 

 ference in rather shallow water, the herd grouped closely 

 together, their great heads sometimes resting on each 

 other's backs. They may even be found occasionally 

 asleep upon mud-banks. In more frequented localities 

 they float in deep water, the nostrils alone protruding 

 above the surface ; or they rise every five minutes or so 

 for the purpose of breathing. Towards evening they 

 leave the water and go ashore to feed, travelling by the 

 well-trodden " hippo paths," which, wherever these 

 animals are plentiful, intersect in all directions the bush 

 and reeds bordering the stream. Although, where food 

 happens to be scarce, hippopotami are capable of 

 travelling consideiable distances from the water during 

 the night, under normal circumstances the limit is under 

 a mile, and they always get back to their old quarters 

 before morning, unless they have sought and found a 



