The Common Hippopotamus 541 



its young calf have been aroused. A wounded hippo will often charge 

 the boat from which the shot that wounded it was fired ; and occasionally, 

 when the sportsman has been very close to the water's edge, it has been 

 known to leave the water and charge for a short distance, but it does not 

 follow up. Hippos are equally at home in salt as in fresh water, and the 

 brackish water at the mouths of many East African rivers is a favourite 

 resort of theirs, as for instance the Zambesi, Pangani, etc. 



Some of the African lakes are more of the nature of a marsh than an 

 actual sheet of water, their extent and depth varying according to whether 



the season is wet or dry. Such is Lake Chilwa, sometimes called Lake 

 Shirwa, and here it would appear as if hippos were only visitors, not 

 residents, as Sir H. H. Johnston remarks that they are said to come to this 

 lake at certain times of year, travelling overland from the Shire River. 

 A detached part of this marsh is brackish. Lakes Mweru, Bangweolo, 

 Nyasa, and Tanganyika all hold hippos in more or less abundance. 



Lying to the south-east of Lake Bangweolo is a small sheet of water 

 called Moir's Lake. In a letter which appeared in one of the daily papers, 

 it is stated that hippos at one time inhabited this lake, but the natives of 



