52 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



hippo given a few years ago by Lewanika, paramount 

 chief of the Barotse, to Lord Selborne, and presented 

 by him to the Transvaal Zoological Gardens. For a 

 considerable time he used to take the air in the grounds 

 in the wake of his native keeper, accepting in the most 

 friendly spirit any attentions paid to him ; when he grew 

 too big to go out in this way, his races with his attendant 

 round the edge of his tank, and his somewhat elephantine 

 gambols in and out of the water, always formed a great 

 attraction to the public. He once nearly paid a penalty 

 for his friendliness when an ill-conditioned youth threw 

 an empty soda-water bottle into his mouth. Luckily 

 the native in attendance had the presence of mind to 

 dart in his hand and snatch it out before the jaws closed, 

 or the results would have been disastrous, and probably 

 fatal. When he was being brought down the Zambezi, 

 Sikabo used to swim behind the canoe containing his 

 attendant. On sighting any of his own kin, he would 

 at once seek the bank, and travel by land until well 

 past them. 



The whips made of the skin of the hippopotamus, 

 variously known in Africa as sjamboks, kibokos, kour- 

 bashes and so on, have considerable value, especially in 

 South Africa at the present day, when they have become 

 rarer than of old, and this naturally puts a premium on 

 the destruction of the species where not specially pro- 

 tected. The ivory had apparently at one time a greater 

 commercial value than is the case at present. 



The mention of the animal's hide reminds me of an inci- 

 dent said to have occurred during the South African War, 

 when a number of troops were proceeding up country 

 from Beira. It is related that an enterprising local 

 gentleman, having cut a number of strips of hippo skin 

 into six-inch sections, went round the carriages, as the 



