288 HIPPOPOTAMUS SOUP. 



the noise disturbed a hippopotamus from his slumber, and he was 

 immediately perceived close to the boat. He was about half-grown, 

 and in an instant about twenty men jumped into the water in 

 search of him, thinking him a mere baby ; but as he suddenly 

 appeared, and was about three times as large as they had expected, 

 they were not very eager to close. However the reis pluckily led 

 the way, and seized him by the hind leg, when the crowd of men 

 rushed in, and we had a grand tussle. Ropes were thrown from the 

 vessel, and nooses were quickly slipped over his head ; but he had 

 the best of the struggle, and was dragging the people into the open 

 river; I was therefore obliged to end the sport by putting a ball 

 through his head. He was scored all over by the tusks of some 

 other hippopotamus that had been bullying him." 



After conquering your enemy, kill him and eat him : such is the 

 maxim of savage life. It was carried out by Sir Samuel Baker and 

 his men, much to the satisfaction of the conquerors. "A new dish!" 

 exclaims our traveller; "there is no longer mock-turtlesoup; real 

 turtle is moc/c hippopotamus. I tried boiling the fat, flesh, and skin 

 together, the result being that the skin assumes the appearance of 

 the green fat of the turtle, but is far superior. A piece of the head 

 thus boiled, and then soused in vinegar, with chopped onions, cayenne 

 pepper, and salt, throws brawn completely in the shade." 



The same traveller relates that the natives on the shores of the 

 Albert N'yanza, previous to embarking on a voyage, cast a handful 

 of beads into the lake, to propitiate the hippopotamus, that their 

 canoe may not be upset. 



The genus Tapir is wanting in Africa ; but we find a species, 

 Tapirus Indicus, in India and the Indian Archipelago, where it was 

 first noticed by Diard and Duvaucel. These naturalists saw an 

 individual of this species at Barrackpore, near Calcutta, whither 

 he had been imported from the island of Sumatra. "I was much 

 surprised," says Diard, "that so large an animal had not hitherto 

 been discovered ; but I was much more so, on seeing in the Asiatic 

 Society's Museum the head of a similar animal, a native of Malacca, 



