TEETH. FIRST OPERATION. HIPPOS 57 
the landing place of their village a hippopotamus had 
come up unexpectedly and hurled their boat into the 
air. The friend escaped, but my patient was chased 
about in the water by the enraged beast for half an 
hour, though he was able at last to get to shore in spite 
of his broken thigh. I was afraid there would be 
serious blood poisoning, for they had brought him the 
twelve hours’ canoe journey with his mutilated thigh 
wrapped in dirty rags. 
I have myself had a meeting with a hippo, but it, 
fortunately, ended well. One autumn evening I was 
called up to visit a planter, and to get to him we had 
to pass a narrow canal about fifty yards long with a 
very strong current. On the journey out we saw two 
hippos in the distance. For the journey home, which 
would be in the dark, for night had fallen, the store 
people advised me to make a detour of a couple of 
hours so as to avoid the canal and the animals, but the 
rowers were so tired that I would not ask them for so 
much extra exertion. We had just got to the entrance 
of the canal when the two hippos came up from a dive 
thirty yards ahead of us, their roar sounding much as if 
children were blowing a trumpet into a watering can, 
only louder. The crew at once drew in close to the bank, 
where the current was least strong, but we advanced 
very slowly, foot by foot, the hippos accompanying us, 
swimming along the other bank. It was a wonderfuL 
exciting experience. Some palm tree stems, which had 
got fixed in mid-stream, rose out of the water and 
swayed about like reeds ; on the bank the forest rose 
straight up like a black wall, and an enchanting moon- 
light illuminated the whole scene. The rowers gasped 
with fear and encouraged each other with low calls 
