DISCOVERY OF THE VICTORIA N'YANZA. 79 



upon which he and all his friends dived under water 

 and then swam to the shore, leaving the hippopota- 

 mus to vent his rage on the shell of the canoe, which 

 he most spitefully stuck to. This, he assures me, is 

 the proper way to dodge a hippopotamus, and escape 

 the danger of a bite from him. On another occasion, 

 when I was hippopotamus-hunting in one of the boats 

 belonging to a large frigate, the property of Sultan 

 Majid of Zanzibar, in an inlet of the sea close to 

 Kaole, I chased a herd of hippopotami in deep water, 

 till one of the lot, coming as usual from below, drove 

 a tusk clean through the boat with such force that 

 he partially hoisted her out of the water; but the 

 brute did no further damage, for I kept him off by 

 making the men splash their oars rapidly whilst 

 making for the shore, where we just arrived in time 

 to save ourselves from sinking. 



The day previous to this adventure, I bagged a 

 fine young male hippopotamus close to this spot, by 

 hitting him on the ear when standing in shallow 

 water. The ivory of these animals is more prized 

 than that of the elephant, and in consequence of 

 the superior hardness of its enamel, it is in great 

 requisition with the dentist 



Hippopotami are found all down this coast in 

 very great numbers, but especially in the deltas of 

 the rivers, or up the streams themselves, and afford 

 an easy, remunerative, and pleasant sport to any man 

 who is not addicted to much hard exercise. The 



