176 
THE CHOBE, 
Chap. VIII. 
by a hippopotamus. Eager as soon as we reached the island to 
look along the vista to clear water, I stepped in and found it took 
me at once up to the neck. 
Eetiirning nearly worn out, we proceeded up the hank of the 
Chobe, till we came to the point of departure of the branch 
Sanshureh; we then went in the opposite direction, or down the 
Chobe, though from the highest trees we could see nothing but one 
vast expanse of reed, with here and there a tree on the islands. Tliis 
was a hard day’s work; and when we came to a deserted Bayeiye 
hut on an antliill, not a bit of wood or anytlhng else could be got 
for a fire, except the grass and sticks of the dwelling itself. I 
dreaded the Tampans,'' so common in aU old huts; but outside 
of it we had thousands of mosquitoes, and cold dew began to be 
deposited, so we were fain to crawl beneath its shelter. 
We were close to the reeds, and could hsten to the strange 
sounds which are often heard there. By day I had seen water- 
snakes putting up their heads and swimming about. There were 
great numbers of otters {Lutra inunguis, F. Cuvier), which have 
made httle spoors ah over the plains in search of the fishes, 
among the tall grass of these flooded prahies; curious bhds, too, 
jerked and wriggled among these reedy masses, and we heard 
human-hke voices and uneartlily sounds, with splash, guggle, jupp, 
as if rare fun were going on in their uncouth haunts. At one time 
something came near us, making a splashing hke that of a canoe 
or hippopotamus: tliinking it to be the Malvololo, we got up, 
listened, and shouted; then discharged a gun several times; but 
the noise continued without intermission for an hour. After a 
damp cold night we set to, early in the morning, at our work of 
exploring again, but left the pontoon in order to lighten our 
labour. The anthills are here very liigh, some tlnrty feet, and 
of a base so broad that trees grow on them; while the lands, 
annually flooded, bear nothing but grass. From one of these ant- 
liiUs we discovered an inlet to the Chobe; and, having gone back 
for the pontoon, we launched ourselves on a deep river, here from 
eighty to one hundred yards wide. I gave my companion strict 
injunctions to stick by the pontoon in case a hippopotamus should 
look at us; nor was this caution unnecessary, for one came up at 
our side and made a desperate plunge off. We had passed over 
him. The wave he made caused the pontoon to ghde quickly 
away from him. 
