XXXII 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 



411 



very soiall calves .sit on the necks of the cows witli 

 their " little saucy lookins^' heads cocking up between 

 the old one's ears ; as they ].)ecome older they sit on the 

 withers ' ' (see p. 55). 



Tt is interesting to wateli these huge animals at play, 

 splashing about the shallows and opening their huge 

 caverndike mouths as if anxious to take in air by the 

 mouthful. Powell-Cotton watched a school of eleven 

 hippopotamuses at play in Lake Tsana ; among them 

 were two calves gamljolliug and trying to scramble on 

 the old one's back ; when they succeeded she would 

 quietly roll over and send them plump back again into 

 tlie water. There is something very human in this 

 kind of motherly fun. 



In the rivers and lakes of Eastern Ethiopia the 

 hippopotamus will defy extinction until this equatorial 

 region is civilised and the sudd obstructions in the 

 affluents of the White Nile are al)olished : until then 

 its ugliness and corpulence will excite wonder in many 

 future generations of men, l)lack and white. 



A thorn ill the foot. T'lii.s is suen 

 daily a-s a "living statue" in 

 Eastern Etliiopia. 



