242 



THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



necessaries, to Chogwe. Here we paid the bill — 

 §20 to the Jemadar in consideration of his two 

 slaves ; $5 a piece to the three hardworking por- 

 tion of our Baloch, and to the drones, old Sha'ahan 

 and tluB lady like Eahmat, $4 and §3 respectively. 

 Tlien, as the vessel in which we were to cruise 

 southward was not expected from Zanzibar before 

 the beginning of March, and we had a week to 

 spare, it was resolved to try a fall Behemoth. 



The hippopotamus, called by the Wasawahili 

 Kiboko and IMvo, and by the Arabs Bakar elKlior, 

 ' the creek-bullock,' resembles a mammoth pig, 

 with an equine head, rather than a horse or a cow. 

 Like the mangrove, he loves the rivers and inlets 

 where fresh water mingles with the briny tide, 

 and, as on this coast he has been little molested, 

 he is everywhere to be met with. Ju the Bights 

 of Benin and Biafra, during three years' wander- 

 ings, I sighted but a single sj)eciin(Mi, and that 

 only for a minute. When tlir night falls he 

 Avriggles up one* of tlie many runs on the river 

 bank, and wanders far to graz(* upon fat rich grass 

 and to plunder grain plantations, where, like th(^ 

 elephant and the hog, he does much more damage 

 than is lu'cessary. At dawn he exchanges the 

 dangerous open for shelter in the de(^p pools — the 

 Khund of India— which as here, for instance, sue- 



