THE HXPPOPOTA^IUS 75 



forests of the Congo basin, into which, it is well 

 known, white rhinoceros will not penetrate. After 

 the lapse of many centuries, therefore, had they 

 felt any disposition to return to mingle once 

 more with their northern relatives, they would 

 have found it impossible to pass round the vast 

 expanse of dense forest, their path being barred 

 by the upper waters of the Zambezi, at that time 

 indisputably a much deeper and more important 

 stream than it is at present. Complete isolation, 

 then, for many centuries overtook these southern 

 migrants, and whilst they grew dangerously near 

 to extinction in the south, their kindred beyond 

 the Congo forest lands tasted the sweets, had they 

 but known it, of a peace and comparative free- 

 dom from danger to which those in the south have 

 for many years been strangers. 



Throughout practically all the rivers and 

 streams of Zambezia, that immense aquatic 

 form, the Hippopotamus, occm-s stiU in con- 

 siderable numbers. ^Vhen I first ascended the 

 Zambezi, nearly twenty years ago, that river, 

 and its tributary the Shire, were the abiding- 

 places of many large herds of these animals. 

 I have seen them sleeping on the sandbanks at 

 the head of the Chinde mouth in the warm sun- 

 shine of midday, whilst in the Shire they were so 

 numerous, for some years thereafter, as to be a 

 source of danger to the many native canoes which 

 daily phed upon the river. Of late, however, in 

 consequence of the increasing number of steamers 

 and barges now running, and to the misplaced per- 

 severance with which they have been fired upon. 



