242 
HIPPOPOTAMI. 
Chap. XIIL 
posed to be large. They love a still reach of the stream, as in 
the more rapid parts of the channel they are floated down so 
quickly, that much exertion is necessary to regain the distance 
lost, by frequently swimming up again—such constant exertion 
disturbs them in their nap. They prefer to remain by day in a 
drowsy yawning state, and, though their eyes are open, they 
take little notice of things at a distance. The males utter a 
loud succession of snorting grunts, winch may be heard a mile 
off. The canoe in which I was, in passing over a wounded one, 
elicited a distmct grunting, though the animal lay entirely 
under water. 
The young, when very little, take their stand on the neck of 
the dam, and the. small head, rising above the large, comes 
soonest to the surface. The dam, knowing the more urgent 
need of her calf, comes more frequently to the surface when it 
is in her care. But in the rivers of Londa, where they are 
much in danger of being shot, even the hipj)opotamus gains wit 
by experience; for while those in the Zambesi put up their 
heads openly to blow, those referred to keep their noses among 
water-plants and breathe so quietly that one would not dream of 
their existence in the river, except by footprints on the banks. 
