THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 135 



female whose young one had been killed the evening 

 before with a javelin. We were eight in the canoe, 

 and the violence of the shock which she had given us 

 was ample proof to each of us of the enormous 

 strength of the animal which had produced it. Except 

 Mashaouana's ducking, and the bath which all had 

 to take, no other damage was done by the accident. 

 It is such a rare thing to be attacked by one of these 

 animals, when the precaution is taken of sailing near 

 the shore, that my companions cried spontaneously, 

 ' The beast is mad ! ' " 



Here is another, and still more marked instance. 

 M. Knoblecher, head of the Austrian Catholic Mission 

 on the White Eiver, reports, that in one of his voyages 

 his boat separated a female hippopotamus from hei 

 young ones. The mother in a fury rose above the 

 water, just at the same moment that M. Knoblecher's 

 cook was leaning the upper part of his body over the 

 side: the poor fellow was seized, and disappeared 

 under the waves, carried away by the enormous beast. 



It is not the less true that the principal danger 

 incurred by travellers is not to be imputed to intention 

 on the part of the hippopotamus. 



The most frequent risk is that of being capsized 

 by the pressure of an animal, in rising from tho 

 bottom to the surface without crying " Look out ;" still 

 it most frequently happens that the sailors come off 



