i6 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
and are joined by their numerous companions, well 
provided with long ropes, and armed with spare 
harpoons and well-sharpened lances. 
The difficulty of capturing the hippopotamus 
would at first sight appear most formidable, but 
a very clever, though simple, plan enables the 
hunter to secure the float which is fastened to the 
harpoon line. The river may be about 150 yards 
in width. One of the hunters swims across, or 
wades if he can find a shallow ford, about 100 
yards above the spot where the float upon the 
surface denotes the place beneath which the 
hippo is hidden in the rivers depths. The man 
who crosses over takes the end of a long rope. 
This is more than sufficient to reach from bank 
to bank, and either end is now in possession of a 
howarti (hippo-hunter). An exceedingly strong 
but a lighter line is fastened to the centre of the 
rope, which is now stretched across the river, and 
the end of this second line is held by the same 
man who holds the superior rope; thus, upon one 
shore a man holds one end only, while upon the 
other shore his companion holds the extremities 
of two lines, one being fastened to the middle of 
the larger or main rope. 
It may be easily understood that the angle 
may be increased or decreased simply by widening 
the base through an extension of the two ends of 
the lines. 
In this manner the two hunters advance upon 
either bank, dragging the rope upon the surface 
