44 PEACE: LION HUNTING 



human bloodhounds at work. It would be by 

 no means so interesting to be hunted by them. 



A fair number of hippo were in that river, and 

 for a long time one afternoon I watched two of 

 them in a smallish isolated pool. When just 

 the head shows, the hippo resembles a big draught 

 horse swimming, and after seeing them it was 

 easy to understand how they got their name 

 " river-horse." Beautiful is the command they 

 have of the element in which they are so much 

 at home ! 



But I am afraid I became unpopular with a 

 small local faction of the inhabitants when I left 

 the hippo unmolested. 



In places along the river there were a lot of 

 giraffe, and what pantomime animals they are ! 

 They must be seen in their wild state to be 

 appreciated fully as the freaks they are. When 

 disturbed they seem to start galloping in three 

 parts, the neck going one way, and the front and 

 hind legs galloping, apparently out of step with 

 each other. Every minute it looks as if they 

 would fall over or break their necks in the trees, 

 though, as a matter of fact, it would take a smart 

 horse to catch up with them. To the Mambokush, 

 a giraffe, I think, represents absolute perfection 

 in the game line : a big mass of meat, with plenty 

 of oily fat, and, above all, no danger or risk in the 

 capture of these most harmless of animals. 



The native Africans are certainly not sportsmen. 

 Their word for buck is " nyamma " (meat), and 



