288 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
Bi. : a herd of these animals and starving 
rf) ~ them to death. As there is a very 
\ rapid fall in the country through 
which all the rivers run to the 
Zambesi from the northern slope of 
Mashonaland, these streams consist of 
a series of deep, still pools (called 
‘“sea-cow holes” by the old hunters), 
from a hundred yards to more than 
a mile in length, connected with one 
another by shallow, swift-flowing water, 
often running in several small streams 
over the bed of the river. A herd of 
hippopotamuses having been found 
resting for the day in one of the 
smaller pools, all the natives in the 
district, men, women, and children, 
would collect and build strong fences 
across the shallows at each end. At 
night large fires would be kept blazing 
all round the pool and tom-toms 
FEMALE HIPPOPOTAMUSES beaten incessantly, in order to prevent 
Exhibits a very characteristic uttitude of the animal the imprisoned animals from escaping, 
Day after day the fences would be, 
* ‘ “eS 4 
Photo by York & Son] : [ Notting Hill 
strengthened, and platforms some- 
times built to command naturally — eG 
weak places, and from these points a 
of vantage the poor animals were 
speared when in their desperation 
they tried to leave the pool. 
Gradually the whole herd would be 
speared or starved to death. 
Once, in August, 1880, I came 
upon a native tribe engaged in 
» starving to death a herd of hippo- 
potamuses ina pool of the Umniati 
River, in Northern Mashonaland. 
When I came on the scene, there 
were ten hippopotamuses still alive 
in the pool. Eight of these appeared 
to be standing on a sandbank in the 
middle of the river, as more than 
half their bodies were above the 
water. They were all huddled up 
together, their heads resting on each 
other’s bodies. Two others were 
swimming about, each with a heavily 
shafted assegai sticking in its back. _ eri Hmens 
Besides these ten still living hippo- Photo by York & Son) eee. | Notting Hil 
potamuses two dead ones were being A HIPPOPOTAMUS FAMILY—FATHER, 
cut up on the side of the pool, and MO’HER, AND YOUNG 
many more must already have been Hippopotamuses are very sociable ss in are often to be met with in large 
erds 
