320 A HIPPOPOTAMUS SHOT. Chap. XII. 



remedies which the founder had provided in perpetuity. 

 Had the Bishop succeeded in introducing Christianity, his 

 converts might have been few, but they would have 

 formed a continuous roll for all time to come. 



The Shire fell two feet, before we reached the shallow 

 crossing where we had formerly such difficulty, and we 

 had now two ships to take up. A hippopotamus was shot 

 two miles above a bank on which the ship lay a fort- 

 night : it floated in three hours. As the boat was towing 

 it down, the crocodiles were attracted by the dead beast, 

 and several shots had to be fired to keep them off. The 

 bullet had not entered the brain of the animal, but driven 

 a splinter of bone into it. A little moisture with some 

 gas issued from the wound, and this was all that could 

 tell the crocodiles down the stream of a dead hippopo- 

 tamus ; and yet they came up from miles below. Their 

 sense of smell must be as acute as their hearing ; both are 

 quite extraordinary. Dozens fed on the meat we left. 

 Our Krooman, Jumbo, used to assert that the crocodile 

 never eats fresh meat, but always keeps it till it is high 

 and tender — and the stronger it smells the better he likes 

 it. There seems to be some truth in this. They can 

 swallow but small pieces at a time, and find it difficult to 

 tear fresh meat. In the act of swallowing, which is like 

 that of a dog, the head is raised out of the water. We 

 tried to catch some, and one was soon hooked ; it required 

 half-a-dozen hands to haul him up the river, and the 

 shark-hook straightened, and he got away. A large iron 

 hook was next made, but, as the creatures could not 

 swallow it, their jaws soon pressed it straight — and our 

 crocodile-fishing was a failure. As one might expect, — 

 from the power even of a salmon — the tug of a crocodile 

 was terribly strong. 



The corpse of a boy floated past the ship ; a monstrous 

 crocodile rushed at it with the speed of a greyhound, 



