Chap. I. 



HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNTERS. 



25 



end of a long pole, but being 

 intended to unship, it is made 

 fast to a strong cord of milola, 

 or hibiscus, bark, which is wound 

 closely round the entire length 

 of the shaft, and secured at its 

 opposite end. Two men in a 

 swift canoe steal quietly down 

 on the sleeping animal. The 

 bowman dashes the harpoon into 

 the unconscious victim, while the 

 quick steersman sweeps the light 

 craft back with his broad paddle; 

 the force of the blow separates 

 the harpoon from its corded 

 handle, which, appearing on the 

 surface, sometimes with an in- 

 flated bladder attached, guides 

 the hunters to where the 

 wounded beast hides below until 

 they despatch it. 



These hippopotamus hunt- 

 ers form a separate people, 

 called Akombwi, or Mapodzo, 

 and rarely — the women it is 

 said never — intermarry with 

 any other tribe. The reason 

 for their keeping aloof from 

 certain of the natives on the 

 Zambesi is obvious enough, 

 some having as great an ab- 

 horrence of hippopotamus meat 

 as Mahomedans have of swine's 

 flesh. Our pilot, Scissors, was 

 one of this class : he would 



