DISCOVERY OF THE VICTORIA N'YANZA. 77 



man, a polesman, in a very small canoe, just capable 

 of carrying what it had on board, myself in the bows, 

 with my 4-bore Blissett in hand, while Captain Bur- 

 ton's monster elephant-gun, a double-barrelled 6-bore, 

 weighing, I believe, 20 lb., was lying at the stern in 

 the poler's charge. 



The river was a tidal one, of no great breadth, and 

 the margin was covered by a thick groAvth of the 

 mangrove shrub, on the boughs of which the sharp- 

 edged shells of the tree-oyster stuck in strings and 

 clusters in great numbers. The best time to catch 

 the hippopotamus is when the tide is out and the 

 banks are bared, for then you find him wallowing in 

 the mud or basking on the sand (when there is any), 

 like jungle hog, and with a well-directed shot on the 

 ear, or anywhere about the brain-pan, you have a 

 good chance of securing him. I especially mention 

 this, as it is quite labour in vain, in places where the 

 Avater is deep, to fire at these animals, unless you can 

 kill them outright, as they dive under like a water- 

 rat, and are never seen more if they are only wounded. 

 I, like most raw hands at this particular kind of sport, 

 began in a very different way from Avhat, I think, a 

 more experienced hunter would have done, by chasing 

 them in the water, and firing at their heads whenever 

 they appeared above it ; and even fired slugs about 

 their eyes and ears, in hopes that I might irritate 

 them sufficiently to make them charge the canoe. 

 This teasing dodge proved pretty successful, for when 



