536 Great and Small Game of Africa 



Northern Mashunaland there are places where the stream has cut a 

 channel through beds of very hard rock, enclosed between ranges of low 

 stony hills ; and in such localities the hippopotami have, in the course of 

 countless ages, worn well-defined paths in the hard rock, leading from 

 one deep pool to another. These paths worn into the stone present 

 exactly the appearance of a hippopotamus path freshly made in soft 

 ground ; that is, there is a low ridge of stone running down their centres, 

 corresponding to the little ridge of mud always present in the middle of a 

 new-made hippopotamus path, caused, as I have already explained, by the 

 fact that these animals move their feet in two parallel lines. I remember 

 noticing, too, that in certain places on these rock-paths where a sudden 

 ascent had to be made to a higher ledge, the edges of the higher levels 

 of hard rock had always been most beautifully polished by the bellies of 

 the countless numbers of hippopotami that in the course of ages had 

 rubbed against them. 



Where hippopotami have never been fired at, they are very tame and 

 even inquisitive. I remember finding a herd in a small rock-pool on the 

 Lower Umfuli River, which, probably, had never seen a man with any 

 kind of clothes on before, as they showed no fear whatever, but, as I sat on 

 a rock at the edge of the pool, all came up within a few yards of me, and 

 remained with their heads in full view for a long time, staring stolidly at 

 the unwonted sight, and continually twitching their little ears. In large 

 rivers like the Zambesi, Shire, or Chobi, where the hippopotami have been 

 hunted by the natives for ages past, they are usually pretty wide awake, 

 and often inclined to be vicious. The natives always endeavour to give 

 them a wide berth when travelling with loaded canoes, and the many 

 mishaps that are continually taking place prove that they have reason for 

 their caution. Doubtless, canoes are sometimes overturned accidentally by 

 a hippopotamus coming in contact with it as he rises to the surface to take 

 breath ; but old bulls and cows with very young calves often attack canoes 



