AFRICA. 207 
^nd in fhape refembling the barbel. But the 
river had feveral fmaller kinds, which we 
caught with our net, and they made us ex- 
cellent fries. 
This river abounded likewife with hippopo- 
tami. I heard them bellow and blow on every 
fide. My curiofity being excited to obferve 
them, I afcended a rock, the elevated point of 
which projeded into the current, and thence I 
perceived one walking at the bottom of the 
river. I obferved that the colour of the ani-^ 
mal, which when he is dry is grey, and ap- 
pears blueifh when his fkin is wet, was of a 
very deep blue in this fituation. 
I killed this hippopotamus as it rofe to the 
furface to breathe. My people, inftantly run- 
ning up, drew it aQiore. It was a very old 
female ; in their aftonlfliment, and to exprefs 
its fize, they called it the grandmother of the 
river. I have preferv^d its tufks, which are 
fix inches in length, meafured along their cur- 
vity, and three inches three lines in circum- 
ference juft above the root. As I have feen 
no plate of this animal that faithfully repre- 
fenta it, the reader will no doubt thank me for 
placing 
