322 



The Living Animals of the World 



tlu- 



to her was forty seconds, and 

 being from t-wo to two and a 

 after liavini; liecn tired at. 



The eaiisizing of eauoes liy these animal 

 rivers, and the great pains the natives will 

 wide berth seem to prove that they have 



longest fonr minntes and twenty seconds— the usnal time 

 nnnutes. She always remained a long time nnder water 



is (luite a common occurrence on most African 

 1 take in certain districts to give these animals a 

 good reason to dread them. Solitary bulls and 



the most feired. 



cows with young calves are tlie 



assured bv the natives, tear out the side ot a 



some of its occupants whilst they are trying to save 



Such animals will sometimes, 1 have been 

 canoe with their teeth, and even crunch up 

 themselves by swimming. Sii)Opo, a 

 chief of the l^arotse tribe, who was deposed by his nephew Jlona ^\ ena m 18 ^G, was said 

 to have been attacked and killed by a hippopotamus whilst lying wounded amongst the reeds 

 on the southern bank of the Zanrbesi, but 1 cannot vonch for the truth of the story 



Bull hip,,oi.otamuses must be rather quarrelsome, as I have shot several whose hides were 



deeply scored with wounds, no doubt 

 inflicted l)y the tusks of their rivals. 

 Once I killed a hippopotanurs in a 

 shallow lagoon amongst the swamps 

 of the Ghobi, whose enormously thick 

 hide had been literally cut to pieces 

 from head to tail. The entire body 

 of this animal was covered with deep 

 wdiite scores, and Ave were unable to 

 cut a single sjambok from its skin. 

 We found, on examination, that this 

 poor beast had been wounded by 

 natives, and then in its distress most 

 cruelly set upon by its fellows, and 

 finally expelled from their society. It 

 was in the last stage of emaciation, 

 and a bullet through the brain must 

 have Ijeen a welcome relief. On 

 another occasion a hip[)opotainus bxill, 

 winch I had wounded in the nose, 

 became so furious that it diveil down 

 and attacked one of its fellows which 

 had already been killed and was 

 lying dead at the bottom of the pool. 

 Seizing this latter animal by the 

 hind leg, it brought it to the surface 

 of the water with such a furious rush that not only half the body of the dead animal it had 

 attacked was exposed, but the whole; of its own head and shoulders came above the water. 

 A bullet tliiougli the brain killed it instantly, and it sank to the bottom of the pool, still 

 holding its companion's hind leg fast in its jaws. 



When a hippopotamus is killed in the water, the carcase sinks tcj the bottom, iuid in the 

 cold water of the rivers of Ahishonalaiid will not rise to the surface till six hours after death. 

 In the warmer water of the Lowi.'r Zambesi a dead hippopotamus will come up in about half 

 that time. When it rises, the carcase comes up like a submerged cork, with a rush as it were, 

 and then settles down, only a small piece of the side showing abo\'e the surface. As decom- 

 ]iosition sets in, it becomes more and nrore swollen, and shows higher and higher above the 

 water. When the body of a dead hippojiotamus has been taken liy the wind or current to 

 the wrong side of a ri\'cr, I have often climbed on t(j it and paddled it with a. stout stick 

 right across tlie river to a spot nearer camp. A dead hippo[iotamus is not the easiest or the 



11E.NT.\L Ol'KliATIONS ON A HIPPOPOTAMUS— KO. I. 



Thi.^ and tlic uuxt two pliotographs probably constitute the most rcmatkalilL' 

 series of animal photograplis ever seen. No 1 stiows a hippopotamus about to be 

 trapped, preparatory to having its teeth attended to. 



