HIPPOPOTAMUS 
443 
and I availed myself of his company to obtain all the 
information he could give respecting the country. 
He, on his part, did not let £lip the opportunity of 
speaking to me of his troubles. He was not far from 
the river, where hippopotami abounded ; and he and 
his companions would have been very glad to procure 
some occasionally for food : but, although they had 
digged holes, and set traps for them along the 
shore, they had never been able to catch more than 
three during the two years he had dwelt there. The 
creatures, he said, were too cunning for them * r 
though he had no doubt but I, with my fusees, of 
the effects of which he had heard, might have as 
many as I pleased. 
Such an observation was an indirect request For me 
to render the horde a service. It gave me an oppor- 
tunity of making myself friends ; and, had not the 
distress of my situation imposed this on me as a mat- 
ter of necessity, I would have done it from humanity, 
to serve these poor savages 
I resolved therefore to set off the next day in the 
afternoon, spend the night near the river, and begin 
the chase the following morning at the peep of dawn 
I took with me all my hunters. A party of the horde 
followed, with some pack^oxen for carrying the fruits 
of our sport ; and at day-break all my people were 
in motion. 
Half of our company passed the river by swimming, 
while the other half remained on my side. When 
the swimmers had gained the opposite bank, they 
separated into two parties, one of which went a cer- 
tain way up the river, and the other down. We did 
the same on my side. The four parties thus included 
a part of the river three quarters of a league in extent. 
I remained alone in the centre of those who were to 
beat for the game. 
At an appointed signal, all were ordered to set out 
from their posts, and advance slowly towards me, 
