130 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



appeared again about three times as large as they expected it was, 

 they showed no further eagerness to close with it. However, 

 the captain of the boat, more courageous than the rest, pluckily 

 seized the hippopotamus by one of its hind legs, whereupon the 

 others rushed in and a grand tussle followed. Ropes were 

 thrown from the boat and nooses slipped over the animal's head, 

 but these efforts for its capture were so futile that the hippopot- 

 amus swam rapidly toward midstream and would have carried 

 everything with it, had not Baker put an end to the sport by 

 shooting the beast. 



He was scored all over by the tusks of some other hippopot- 

 amus that had been bullying him. The men declared that his 

 father had thus misused him ; others were of opinion that it was 

 his mother ; and the argument ran high and became hot. These 

 Arabs have an extraordinary taste for arguments upon the most 

 trifling points. Baker says he has frequently known his men to 

 argue throughout the greater part of the night, and commence 

 the same argument on the following morning. These debates 

 generally end in a fight ; and in the present instance the excite- 

 ment of the hunt only added to the heat of the argument. They 

 at length agreed to refer it to the master, and both parties ap- 

 proached, vociferously advancing their theories ; one-half persist- 

 ing that the young hippo had been bullied by his father, and the 

 others adhering to the mother as the cause. Baker, being ref- 

 eree, suggested that " perhaps it was his uncle.' 9 *' Wah Illahi 

 sahe !" (By Allah, it is true!) Both parties were satisfied 

 with the suggestion ; dropping their theory they became practical , 

 and fell to with knives and axes to cut up the cause of the argu- 

 ment. The hippopotamus was as fat as butter, and was a per- 

 fect godsend to the people, who divided him with great excite- 

 ment and good humor. 



A STRANGE RACE OF PEOPLE. 



ON the 19th of January the boats emerged from the apparently 

 endless region of marsh-grass and saw on the right bank a large 

 herd of grazing cattle tended by naked natives. This proved to 

 be the Kytch country, a tribe of the most strange and singular 



