270 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
Sabaki river. There would, however, be little chance of getting 
a shot at one in any of these places, except in the upper reaches 
of the Tana, without the aid of a boat or canoe. In the small 
lakes at Jipi, on the mainland opposite the island of Lamu, 
they are found, at Mpecatoni near Kipini, and also at Jilori 
near Melindi, besides in several of the salt-water creeks. 
Further inland there are a good many in Lake Jipi near 
Taveta, and also in a large ‘ Ziwa’ (swamp) to the east of 
Kilimanjaro and in Lakes Naivasha and Baringo. They are, 
however, far more plentiful in the river Nzoia in Northern 
Kavirondo than in any other place that I know of. In the 
Nile, both above and below the Ripon Falls, they are also 
numerous. The river Athi, to the north of Machako’s, is 
another good place. I have shot them there with finer teeth 
than anywhere else, and this is the experience of others besides 
myself. 
The food of the hippo consists of coarse grass, reeds, 
and other plants growing in damp and wet places. In places 
like Kavirondo, where the natives cultivate the ground to a 
large extent and where hippos abound, they are a source of 
great annoyance, as during the night they do much damage 
to the crops. With the exception of a few caught in pitfalls, 
these beasts are rarely killed by natives, except by the Wapo- 
komo of the river Tana. 
At night when in search of food hippos will wander long 
distances, and I have seen their spoor as much as three miles 
away from the nearest water. On one occasion, at Merereni, 
on the coast, I followed the spoor of an old bull hippo for 
over eight miles and then gave it up, as I found it was leading 
in the direction of a salt-water creek, which I knew to be some 
two miles ahead. I did not follow-up the spoor with any idea 
of coming across the beast on land, but simply to see where 
he was going. As I often saw him for three or four days run- 
ning in the creek close to my camp, then saw nothing at all 
of him for the next few days, and afterwards noticed his fresh 
spoor leading away from the creek, but could find no signs 
