FROM GILGIL TO KENIA 263 



water the upper rim of a broad nostril and the little round 

 covering of the eyes; a truly mighty "submarine!" Hippo 

 are not supposed to be dangerous though sometimes they 

 are, as was proved by one chasing a band of men on a 

 public road within two miles of Mengo, the capital of 

 Uganda, while I was there. The ponderous beast actually 

 ran them down (and the Waganda are well known to be 

 very fast runners) and bit one man completely in two. 

 Next morning two hundred Waganda surrounded the 

 little swamp where the furious beast lived, and from which 

 he had charged forth in his quite unprovoked attack. Doctor 

 Cook, with whom I was staying at the time, took me to 

 his admirable hospital and showed me the results of that 

 encounter. One man had his thigh shot through, another 

 had a ball in his shoulder, a third had a great piece out 

 of his buttock, and a fourth was trampled into and under 

 the mud and the reeds till he was a mass of wounds and, 

 besides, was nearly suffocated. They killed the hippo. 



I am inclined to think that, during low water, the 

 Embellossett hippo is not so hard to bring to bag as he 

 was at the time we waited in vain for him; for during low 

 water his supply of soft eating far out in the swamp fails 

 him, and he has to content himself with the meadow grass 

 that, as soon as the rains stop, begins to grow luxuriantly 

 all along the rich margin of the marsh. On moonlight 

 nights he will often take a long walk inland. I remember 

 one night seeing two great fellows solemnly walking all 

 round our circle of tents. That was to north of the Nzoia, 

 and the swamp they had come from was a good way off. 



The borders of Embellossett are extraordinarily rich 

 and green, as they are watered by the swamp vapours 

 as well as numberless rivulets from the hills. A deep 

 lush growth of white clover spreads up to the very feet 

 of the cliffs and upon this the bush-buck love dearly to 

 feed. Very early in the morning and just again before 



