12 
WILD LEASTS AND THEIR WAYS 
CHAP. 
the bottom would have been knocked out, and we 
should have been capsized. 
Dr. Livingstone describes an accident which 
befell him, when his large canoe full of natives 
was thrown into the air, and capsized with the 
entire crew, by a savage hippopotamus when 
descending some channel of the Zambesi. 
Accidents were frequent with these animals. 
In broad daylight a hippo charged the steamer 
that was towing my diahbeeah. Not content 
with breaking several floats off the paddle-wheel, 
it reappeared astern, and, striking the bottom of 
our iron vessel, it perforated the plates in two 
places with its projecting tusks, causing a danger¬ 
ous leak. 
Our vessel was filling rapidly, although, the 
steamer having dropped astern to our assistance, 
we discharged our cargo upon her deck, and 
at the same time kept pumping and baling out 
with every conceivable utensil. At length the 
engineer succeeded in finding the two holes with 
his naked feet, which he used as stoppers until 
we were able to reduce the water. He then 
repaired the damage with a clever impromptu 
device, by covering a small plank thickly with 
white lead and tow, mixed together, and laid 2 
inches thick upon a piece of felt. This was 
inverted upon the two holes; a man stood upon 
the plank, thus pressing the tow and white lead 
into the apertures. In the meantime an upright 
batten was fixed from beneath a cross-beam, upon 
