THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 249 



calmly regarding the catastrophe with an air of 

 deprecating surprise which is almost apologetic. 



The Hippopotamus has the distinction of 

 possessing the largest mouth of aU the brute 

 creation, and in weight he comes next to the 

 elephant, a well-grown, mature male scaling over 

 five tons. This I had occasion to prove in 1898, 

 when, having shot one at Quelimane, a large 

 Norwegian steamer alongside of which I towed it 

 was unable to raise the carcase on deck by means 

 of the ordinary steam winches, which would, I was 

 informed, raise an ordinary lift of five tons with 

 ease. 



Although as a rule a pacific and somewhat 

 lethargic animal, the Hippopotamus is not a very 

 desirable neighbour. His appetite requires a great 

 deal of appeasing, and as he has an especial pre- 

 dilection for cultivated growths, for maize, millet, 

 and above all sugar-cane, he is clearly an acquaint- 

 ance to be sedulously discouraged if your special 

 mission in life should be in the direction of tilling 

 the soil. 



The African Buffalo, commonly and misleadingly 

 caUed the " Cape Buffalo " {Bos caffer), although 

 nothing like so numerous as he was before the 

 great epidemic of rinderpest, which swept through 

 the country about the year 1896, still exists to 

 some extent on both banks of the Zambezi, where 

 there is some indication of a tendency for their 

 numbers to increase. In the Luabo Company's 

 fine Prazo, in Shupanga, and also on the north 

 bank between the Nkwazi Prazo and the Lupata 

 Gorge, herds of considerable size may at times be 



