410 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xxxii 



nostrils, nasal surface of the face, orljits, ears and eyes 

 (see p. 178). Like the whale, it sometimes blows before 

 reaching the surface, and drives up a watery column, or 

 a spray of water. Often a blowing grunt or bellow is 

 heard before the head appears. When shot at, these 

 uncouth beasts become very cautious and forsake the 

 clear parts of a pool and lie with their noses hidden 

 among the reeds. 



Unless taken unawares, the hippopotamus when in 

 the water offers a small target for the sportsman. It is 

 usual to aim at a spot an inch liehind the eye and near 

 the l)ase of the small erect ear. A bullet in that position 

 penetrates the brain case. When shot dead the animal 

 turns over, the feet stick up, and the body sinks like a 

 stone to refloat al)out two hours later. When badly 

 wounded the hippopotamus flounders about, and churns 

 up the water in a sort of death-struggle like the flurry 

 of a mortally wounded whale. A wounded bull is a 

 dangerous animal, and will attack a boat with great 

 ferocity. Hunters have been drowned on several occa- 

 sions by wounded hippopotamuses. There are many 

 reliable reports in which natives and Europeans have 

 been attacked by these animals when crossing the 

 Victoria Nyanza. The natives kill the hippopotamus 

 by means of game pits dug in their tracks, or with 

 harpoons and spears (see p. 54). 



It is believed by many that a lion cannot kill a 

 hippopotamus, but Gregory relates that when he was on 

 the banks of the Thika-Thika, three lions had surprised 

 a hippopotamus in some long grass about thirty yards 

 from the river. There had been a desperate fight ; the 

 grass had been trampled down for yards around, but 

 the hip|)opotamus had finally succumbed . to loss of 

 blood. The skin was terribly scratched by claws and 

 teeth, and the lower part of the neck had been torn 

 away. 



Livingstone regarded the hippopotamus as an animal 

 which spends its life mainly in the water in a sort of 

 listless dream. He watched them at play, when the 



