356 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



the ledge of rock beneath which he had expected to see the head of the animal ; his long sinewy 

 arm was raised, with the harpoon ready to strike, as he carefully advanced. At length he reached 

 the edge of the perpendicular rock. The Hippo had vanished, but far from exhibiting surprise, the 

 old Arab remained standing on the sharp ledge, unchanged in attitude. No figure of bronze could 

 have been more rigid than that of the old river king, as he stood erect upon the rock, with the 

 left foot advanced, and the harpoon poised in his ready right hand, above his head, while in the 

 left he held the loose coils of rope attached to the ambatch buoy. For about three minutes he 

 stood like a statue, gazing intently into the clear and deep water beneath his feet. I watched 

 eagerly for the reappearance of the Hippo. The surface of the water was still barren, when sud- 

 denly the right arm of the statue descended like lightning, and the harpoon shot perpendicularly 



HIPPOPOTAMI AT THE FALLS OF THE RITER SENEGAL. 



into the pool with the speed of an arrow. What water fiend answered to the summons? In an 

 instant an enormous pair of open jaws appeared, followed by the ungainly head and form of the furious 

 Hippopotamus, who, springing half out of the water, lashed the river into foam, and, disdaining 

 the concealment of the deep pool, he charged straight up the violent rapids. With extraordinary 

 power he breasted the descending stream ; gaining a footing in the rapids, about five feet deep, he 

 ploughed his way against the broken waves, sending them in showers of spray upon all sides, and 

 upon gaining broader shallows he tore along through the water, with the buoyant float hopping 

 behind him along the surface, until he landed from the river, started at full gallop along the dry 

 shingly bed, and at length disappeared in the thorny nabbuk jungle. 



" I never could have imagined that so unwieldy an animal could have exhibited such 

 speed ; no man would have had a chance of escape, and it was fortunate for our old Neptune 

 that he was secure upon the high ledge of rock, for if he had been in the path of the infuriated 

 beast, there would have been an end of Abou Do. 



"The old man plunged into the deep pool just quitted by the Hippo, and landed upon cur 



