NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



the early forties, says : " There were a few Hippos 

 in the lower reaches of the Buffalo so late as '48. 

 The last was, I believe, shot by an officer of the 

 1850-53 Kafir War. For some few years after 

 this, there were a few in the Keiskama mouth, also 

 old ones in the Kei. In the Umtata mouth there 

 were some six or eight so late as 1866, if not later, 

 and in the Umzimvubu (literal translation of which 

 .is * the home of the Sea Cow '), till later times. I 

 have found their remains so far inland as Cathcart 

 and St. Mark's. I was once told of an interesting 

 Hippo hunt by a centenarian Bushman. It appears 

 the beast was belated in a small rivulet near the 

 upper reaches of the White Kei, while searching 

 for provender, and owing to the limited water- 

 space was unable to hide himself. All the brothers 

 and sisters of the clan congregated round the pool, 

 cut down everything in the shape of thorn-bushes 

 they could manage, and dumped them into the 

 pool, thus eventually forcing the unfortunate 

 leviathan out into the open, where they attacked 

 him with every possible and available weapon, 

 sticking his hide full of everything and anything 

 with a point or an edge to it. Thus men, women 

 and children followed him for several days and 

 nights, replacing the weapons in his carcase as fast 

 as they fell out, eventually bringing him to his 

 knees, and ultimately to his death, many miles from 

 where the scrimmage began. There they encamped 

 and feasted till not a vestige remained." 



