86 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. Ill 



bend in the river, in which I descried the heads of four 

 hippopotamuses. I shot one. He struggled to where 

 the stream was shallower, and stood there snorting; 

 another shot finished him. Lieutenant von Hohnel 

 and I then set to work to kill the remainder; and 

 after half an hour we had six stretched on the bank. 

 The men were set to work cutting up the meat. Mean- 

 while, one of the animals which I had shot, but which 

 was not yet dead, rushed along the shore, and stood not 

 more than twenty paces from my terrified men. Blood 

 was streaming from his wounds, and he snorted with 

 fury. My men seemed terribly frightened, and made 

 off in every direction. Another shot, in the region of 

 the heart, finished him. 



After considerable experience with hippopotamuses I 

 have come to the conclusion that almost the smallest 

 weapon is sufiicient to reach the brain ; this, however, 

 being very small, accurate shooting is necessary. The 

 best shot is in the ear. On many occasions I found the 

 cartridge of the carbine carried by the porters, the cali- 

 bre of which is .38, was amply sufiicient to kill these ani- 

 mals. A hippopotamus, if unaccustomed to being shot 

 at, will expose his head for an indefinite period of time, 

 and even permit one to take several shots at him; so 

 it is not a difficult matter to kill him. But should the 

 river in wdiich they are be deep, as is often the case 

 in the Tana, and the current strong, it is very diffi- 

 cult to get them after they are killed. In fact, I am 

 sorry to state, we lost a great many by the force of 

 the stream. On other occasions the slain hippopotamus 

 was undoubtedly held down beneath the surface by 

 his companions ; for what reason, I am ignorant. 



