TO LAKE NAIVASHA 
219 
to harm them, they become wantonly savage and aggres¬ 
sive and attack and even kill women and children. In 
Uganda, Cuninghame had once been asked by a native 
chief to come to his village and shoot the baboons, as they 
had just killed two women, badly bitten several children, 
and caused such a reign of terror that the village would be 
abandoned if they were not killed or intimidated. He him¬ 
self saw the torn and mutilated bodies of the dead women; 
and he stayed in the village a week, shooting so many ba¬ 
boons that the remainder were thoroughly cowed. Baboons 
and boars are the most formidable of all foes to the dogs 
that hunt them—just as leopards are of all wild animals 
those most apt to prey on dogs. A baboon’s teeth and 
hands are far more formidable weapons than those of any 
dog, and only a very few wholly exceptional dogs of huge 
size, and great courage and intelligence, can, single-handed, 
contend with an old male. But we saw a settler whose three 
big terriers could themselves kill a full-grown wart-hog boar; 
an almost unheard-of feat. They backed up one another 
with equal courage and adroitness, their aim being for 
two to seize the hind legs; then the third, watching his 
chance, would get one foreleg, when the boar was speedily 
thrown, and when weakened, killed by bites in his stomach. 
Hitherto we had not obtained a bull hippo, and I made 
up my mind to devote myself to getting one, as otherwise 
the group for the museum would be incomplete. Save in 
exceptional cases I do not think hippo hunting, after the 
first one has been obtained, a very attractive sport, because 
usually one has to wait an hour before it is possible to tell 
whether or not a shot has been successful, and also be¬ 
cause, a portion of the head being all that is usually visible, 
