THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 233 



Dr. Livingstone also met. with a mishap, for he writes : " While 

 proceeding down the river a female hippopotamus struck the 

 canoe with her forehead, lifting one half of it quite out of the 

 water, so as nearly to overturn it. The force of the butt she 

 gave tilted Mashauana into the river; the rest of us swam to the 

 shore, which was only about ten yards off. . . . There were eight 

 of us in the canoe, and the shake it received shows the immense 

 power of this animal in the water." 



The hippopotami are gregarious, company-loving beasts. They 

 associate together in herds numbering from five and six to thirty 

 or forty ; but it is impossible to accurately ascertain their num- 

 bers, for as they are generally hidden under the water, and only 

 keep rising in constant succession, they cannot well be counted. 

 They exhibit considerable intelligence in avoiding danger when 

 once they are aware of it, for if shot at many times they profit by 

 the experience, and are wont thereafter for some time to remain 

 hidden and breathe quietly, which is the opposite to their custom 

 prior to being disturbed, for then their heads are held well out 

 of the water, which gives the rivers they frequent the appearance 

 of being dotted over with small rocks, and they blow the water 

 about in every direction, while they utter loud snorting grunts 

 which may be heard a mile off. 



Schweinfurth, in his book " The Heart of Africa," in describing 

 the hippopotamus gives the following particulars : " The colour of 

 nearly all these animals was a dark fleshy red, almost like raw 

 meat, marked irregularly with large black spots. I also saw 

 specimens of a lighter shade, but never of a pure white; in 

 the sunshine their damp bodies assumed quite a bluish-grey hue. 

 Half of the hippopotamuses that I noticed at this deep part of 

 the river, which extended for about a mile, were females carrying 

 their young, which at this season seemed very weak and unde- 

 veloped, and sat astride on the short necks of their mothers. The 

 females appeared to rise to the surface of the water for the sake 

 of their young far more frequently than was necessary for their 

 own accommodation, and, unlike the males, which usually show 

 their mouth and nostrils, they only lifted their young above the 

 water, whilst their own heads generally remained invisible. The 



