452 UNGULATES. 



arrangement, the float is at length captured by a rope and the animal dragged to 

 shore, where it is despatched with lances. This, however, Sir S. Baker states, is 

 frequently not accomplished without the death of one or more of the intrepid 

 hunters. In Central Africa, on the other hand, the hippopotamus is harpooned 

 from canoes. In other parts the favourite method is to suspend a weighted spear, 

 frequently tipped with poison, over a branch of a tree near the tracks of the 

 hippopotamus, and to make fast the end of the line, to which it is attached to stakes 

 on either side of the path. When the animal comes along, it strikes against the 

 line, the stakes are loosened, and the heavy spear conies down with a thud on its 

 head or back. Yet another plan is to construct pitfalls in the paths frequented by 

 these animals, and to cover them over carefully on the top with boughs, reeds, 

 or grass. 



The most cruel method is, however, one sometimes employed by the Kaffirs of 

 South-Eastern Africa, who, as Mr. Selous relates, are in the habit of starving the 

 unfortunate brutes. They select a pool in a river where the bottom is sandy, and 

 consequently where there is no vegetation ; and for choice they prefer a pool with 

 a high bank on one side. Having driven or watched a party of hippopotami into 

 such a pool, the Kaffirs form a hedge round the open sides, and thus render egress 

 impossible. Mr. Selous states that on one occasion he came across such a pool, 

 where, so far as he could ascertain, the animals had been enclosed for about three 

 weeks. When his party reached the scene of operations there were still ten living 

 hippopotami in the pool. " Eight of these seemed to be standing on the bank in 

 the middle of the water, as more than half their bodies were exposed ; the poor 

 brutes were all huddled up in a mass, each with his upraised head resting on 

 another's body. Two more were swimming about, each with a very heavily-shafted 

 assegai sticking in his back ; these assegais are plunged into them at night when 

 the starving beasts come near the fences seeking for a means of exit from their 

 horrible prison." 



Europeans are in the habit of shooting hippopotami with rifles, but most who 

 have tried this sport agree that, when the novelty has worn off, it is not of a very 

 exciting nature. Although when first killed the carcase of a hippopotamus sinks 

 to the bottom immediately after death, it will rise within twenty-four hours, owing 

 to the generation of gases in the stomach, if the depth of water does not exceed 

 some twenty-five feet. 



Formerly hippopotamus ivory was valued for the manufacture 

 of artificial teeth, and in the early part of this century it fetched as 

 much as twenty-five shillings per lb. Now, however, the animal is hunted solely 

 for its hide and fat, or for the sake of its flesh as food. The hide is used for whips, 

 and, according to Sir S. Baker, also for facing revolving wheels employed in 

 polishing steel. A good hippopotamus will yield about 200 lbs. of pure fat ; and 

 the writer last named states that the flesh of the hippopotamus is always palatable, 

 that of the young calf being delicious ; the feet of the latter making an excellent 

 stew, and its skin soup which has been compared to turtle. 



Hippopotami thrive well in captivity, and breed not unfrequently. 



The first specimen exhibited in the London Zoological Society's 



Gardens was captured on the upper Nile in 1849, and brought to England in 



