AFRICA. 361 
an hippopotamus which muft have paffed 
that way in the night, we followed it for au 
hour and a half, and it conduced us to the 
place where the animal had thrown itfelf into 
the water; upon which we diftributed ourfelves 
along the banks, at a certain diftance one from 
the other, to liften. The perfon who was at 
the greatefl: diftance having difcharged his 
fufee, we ran towards him, and found that he 
had fired at the animal, but miffed it. Very 
luckily we did not wait long before we faw 
it appear again, and heard it breathe, but 
it had reached the oppofite fhore. Though 
the river was very broad, two of my people 
fwam over, in hopes of forcing it to keep at 
leaft in the middle, if they could not bring 
it within reach of us. This attempt per- 
feQIy fucceeded ; but the animal was fo ti- 
mid, that when it breathed it fcarcely raifed 
its noftrils above the furface of the water. 
As it changed its place every moment, it 
never fhev/ed itfelf in the fpot where we 
were waiting for it, and . it plunged fo 
often and fo quickly, that it gave us no tim^e 
to take aim. We had already fired thirty 
times without touching it. The two Hot- 
tentots who crofl^ed the river had no fufees ; 
I ^nd 
