138 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



found himself, gave a great spring half out of the 

 water, and then plunged in again, dragging the float 

 with great fury. 



" A short time afterwards some men hailed us 

 from the shore, inquiring if we had seen the hunted 

 water ox." 



In Abyssinia they hunt the hippopotamus with 

 guns. Salt gives an account of one of these hunts, 

 which was not a very successful one. 



" Placed on an elevated and prominent rock, we 

 were not long in perceiving, at a distance of about 

 sixty feet, a hippopotamus, which, without any signs 

 of fear, exhibited his enormous head above the water, 

 and sniffing violently somewhat in the manner of a 

 porpoise. Three of us fired at him, and he was 

 thought to be struck in front ; he looked up, groaning 

 and roaring angrily, and immediately plunged. We 

 expected to see his body floating on the surface of the 

 water, but he reappeared at the same place more 

 cautiously, and without appearing to be at all dis- 

 concerted by what had already happened to him. 



"We fired again, with no more success than at 

 first. We continued to fire on many other animals > 

 but I am not certain that any one of them was wounded. 

 Our leaden balls were too soft to penetrate the skulls 

 of these great animals they continually rebounded. 

 Nevertheless, towards evening they became more cir- 



