346 EFFICIENT PREPARATION IN AMMUNITION AND ARMS. 
When thus beset, the infuriated beast not unfrequently turns 
upon his assailants, and either with his formidable tusks, or with 
a blow from his enormous head, staves in or capsizes the canoes. 
At times, indeed, not satisfied with wreaking his vengeance on the 
craft, he will attack one or other of the natives, and with a single 
grasp of his horrid jaws either terribly mutilates the poor fellow, or, 
it may be, cuts his body fairly in two. 
The chase often lasts a considerable time. So long as the'^ 
line and the harpoon hold, the animal cannot escape, because the 
' buoy ’ always marks his whereabouts. At length, from loss of 
blood or exhaustion. Behemoth succumbs to his pursuers and is then 
dragged ashore.” 
The hippopotamus feeds entirely upon vegetable substances, 
cropping the herbage and bushes on the banks of the rivers, and 
occasionally visiting the cultivated grounds during the night. It 
passes most of its time in the water, where it swims and dives with 
great ease, and is said to walk at the bottom. When the head of 
the animal is below the water it rises frequently to blow it out from 
its nostrils, making it ascend in two jets. 
The government officials on the morning of July 9th closed the 
public road which runs from Nairobi to Fort Hall, the capital of 
Kenia, owing to the invasion of that district by man-eating lions. 
Several natives within a few days had been killed by these animals. 
The Fort Hall road, which was closed by the authorities, is 
about sixty miles long and situated to the east of the Uganda Rail¬ 
road. Former President Roosevelt at that time was on a shooting 
trip in the Sotik district, which is about fifty miles from Naivasha 
on the west side of the railroad. 
