186 ESCAPE FROM A HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



several attempts to obtain possession of what few 

 goods Mr. Brown had, on pretence of looking 

 them over. Mr. Brown, however, acting up to 

 the instructions he had received, did not bring 

 them out of the house. 



This morning we had a narrow escape from a 

 hippopotamus, about ten o'clock. When near 

 a very high sandbank, a large hippopotamus 

 suddenly appeared from among some long grass, 

 about five feet from the canoe. One of the Kroo- 

 men nearly struck him with his paddle ; the 

 animal gave a loud roar, and went down, agi- 

 tating the water for a considerable distance. 

 It is fortunate we were not a few moments ear- 

 lier, or we should have had our canoe capsized. 



After a comfortable rest, in the afternoon of 

 the 2l4th I visited the King of Iddah, who wel- 

 comed me with much good humour, and began to 

 tell me of part of his buildings having been de- 

 stroyed by fire through the carelessness of a 

 slave, who, he had learnt, was intoxicated at the 

 time ; so, in order to prevent a recurrence of such 

 a disaster, he had ordered his head to be cut off, 

 and his body cast into the Niger. Attah was 

 very inquisitive as to the nature and quantity 

 of goods which I had on board the vessel. I 



