252 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



Kabarega of Unyoro, from whom it had been captured in the 

 last war. This canoe is nearly forty feet long and about three 

 feet wide ; it is simply the hollowed-out trunk of a good-sized 

 tree. 



The paddle used at Fajao is rather curious. Seen sideways, it 

 has a slight spoon-shaped curve. The front surface of the paddle 

 is hollowed so as to leave a strong overlapping lip all round ; 

 the back is like a broad leaf with a prominent midrib, terminat- 

 ing in a blunt knob which slightly projects to form the tip of 

 the blade. The soldiers always embark fully armed, because 

 the natives on the opposite bank of the river have not yet been 

 subdued, are hostile, and would gladly seize any favourable 

 opportunity to massacre a few of the hated Soudanese without 

 running too great a risk of their own lives. 



There was no need for the men with me in the " Kabarega " 

 to paddle. The current swiftly and noiselessly carried the 

 huge canoe like a bubble down the stream. We left at 6 a.m. 

 Soon an inquisitive hippo raised his head out of the water. I 

 fired and missed. After missing hippos live times in succession, 

 I suspected there was something wrong with the fore-sight 

 of my rifle, a sporting Martini-Henri. I borrowed the rifle of 

 one of the soldiers. The longer and heavier military weapon 

 felt cumbersome ; but the sighting was excellent, and the very 

 first bullet dropped into the very centre of the swirl caused by 

 the head of another hippo disappearing below the surface of the 

 water. My next bullet caught the hippo just below the eye, 

 and we heard it crashing into the skull. 



When it rose to the surface farther down-stream, it showed 

 plainly that it was mortally wounded. The men paddled 

 vigorously ; and as we gained on it, I reserved my shot, 

 because a severely wounded hippo has to rise very frequently 

 to the surface to breathe. We manoeuvred to drive it towards 

 the British side of the Nile, so as to have nothing to do with 

 the hostile Shuli bank of the river; and I gave the wounded 

 hippo a second bullet at close quarters through the back 

 of the head. It sank like a stone. We landed to await 

 the rising of the body, when the decomposing gases would 

 buoy it up. The canoe was moored three hundred yards lower 

 down the stream as a further precaution. The hippo sank at 

 8.30 A.M. ; exactly at 10 a.m. it rose with an explosive splash ; 

 but the time the body takes to rise I subsequently found to vary 



