280 EXPEDITION INTO 



fifty 3\nrds^ but the fresh deposition of rubbish on the bank, 

 showed that the water had very lately risen at least ten feet 

 above its present level — and from the strength and muddiness 

 of the current^ we were not a little apprehensive it mig-ht be 

 ag-ain flooded during- the nig-ht^ and obstruct our prog-ress 

 for mau}^ days. The absence, nevertheless, of anything- 

 approaching- to a practicable ford, oblig-ed us to take our 

 chance. 



The river was literally teeming- with hippopotami, about 

 forty of those amphibious monsters protruding- their laug-h- 

 able countenances at the same time, and g-rampus-hke, 

 blowing- a spout of muddy water as if in honour of our 

 arrival. Althoug-h two lions had been seen the moment 

 before, the Hottentots, to a man, without unyoking- the oxen, 

 left the wag-g-ons standing- on the brink of the hig-h bank, 

 and rushed like school-boys to the water's edge. A g-ig-antic 

 hippopotamus was making- directly for the shore by a suc- 

 cession of plung-es, his broad snout appearing- nearer and 

 nearer every time he rose puffing- to the surface, sending- a 

 thousand bubbling- circles eddying- round it. I was in the 

 act of firing- in at his garret-window, when I perceived the 

 tail of a couchant lioness knocking- ang-rily within a few 

 yards of my foot. So completely was her attention en- 

 grossed by the wag-g-ons, that although close behind her, she 

 did not perceive either Piet or myself, and was retiring, when 

 one of the followers foolishly firing at her, she galloped back 

 through the middle of our party, and being joined by a lion^ 

 disappeared among the bushes. 



The savage loneliness of this wild spot might well have 

 constituted it the metropolis of FertB ; but in spite of all the 

 warnings we had received, it was with the greatest difficulty, 

 and not before we had set the example in person, that the 

 perverse Hottentots could be induced to suspend hostilities 

 against the Zeekoes, and construct a thorn fence for the 



