702 HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNTING. 



raised on the smooth water; they look as if holding in their 

 breath, and communicate by signs only. As they come near the 

 prey the harpooner in the bow lays down his paddle and rises 

 slowly up, and there he stands erect, motionless, and eager, with 

 the long-handled weapon poised at arm's length above his head, 

 till coming close to the beast he plunges it with all his might in 

 towards the heart. During this exciting feat he has to keep his 

 balance exactly. His neighbor in the stern at once backs his 

 paddle, the harpooner sits down, seizes his paddle, and backs too 

 to escape : the animal, surprised and wounded, seldom returns 

 the attack at this stage of the hunt. The next stage, however, 

 is full of danger. 



The barbed blade of the harpoon is secured by a long and 

 very strong rope wound round the handle : it is intended to 

 come out of its socket, and while the iron head is firmly fixed 

 in the animal's body the rope unwinds and the handle floats on 

 the surface. The hunter next goes to the handle and hauls on 

 the rope till he knows that he is right over the beast : when he 

 feels the line suddenly slacken he is prepared to deliver another 

 harpoon the instant that hippo.'s enormous jaws appear with a 

 terrible grunt above the water. The backing by the paddles is 

 again repeated, but hippo, often assaults the canoe, crunches it 

 with his great jaws as easily as a pig would a bunch of aspara- 

 gus, or shivers it with a kick by his hind foot. Deprived of 

 their canoe the gallant comrades instantly dive and swim to the 

 shore under water : they say that the infuriated beast looks for 

 them on the surface, and being below they escape his sight. 

 When caught by many harpoons the crews of several canoes 

 seize the handles and drag him hither and thither till, weakened 

 by loss of blood, he succumbs. 



The rhinoceros is hardly a more interesting game than the 

 hippopotamus in the regions where travellers are denied the 

 privilege of carrying horses by the fatal tsetse. It is formidable 

 anywhere of course, but it is questionable whether the bravest 

 hunter enjoys any part of an engagement with a really dangerous 

 animal so much as the chase. There cannot be very much en- 

 joyment in standing with a rifle in hand and killing an elephant, 

 or lion, or rhinoceros, while the victim is in repose; and there 

 is no special valor about it. But we can understand the enthu- 



