ELMENTEITA IN FEBRUARY 
143 
curious hissing snort of a rhino. This time it was 
repeated thrice in rapid succession and close at hand, 
my two men at once whispering “ Kifaru.” We were 
at the moment after hippo, creeping along the narrow 
belt of sharp rocks and lava which separates the deep 
water of the lake from dense impenetrable jungle on the 
landward side (impenetrable save by creeping along the 
low tunnels made by hippos). It was no place to take 
on a rhino. We therefore lay low, passing an anxious 
quarter of an hour. Afterwards by a detour we picked 
up the spoor inland; but that rhino had travelled afar. 
After Hippo 
’Twere tedious to relate in detail all the efforts we 
made to secure the coveted hippo. Morning after morn¬ 
ing we set forth in the small hours, scoured by moon¬ 
light every green meadow and grassy pasture for miles 
around the lake, yet never once did we succeed in 
finding the great amphibians ashore. Once, it is true, 
I surprised, close at hand, a half-grown “ toto ” among 
the reeds, but him I let depart in peace. As they 
refused to meet us on land, we next tried to tackle 
them in the water. 
On seeing a hippo near the shore it is possible to 
reach the nearest point of ]and by advancing at the 
moment he disappears, lying low before his eyes again 
break the surface. While stalking them thus we noticed 
the curious fact that their snorts and grunts are dis¬ 
tinctly audible from far under water, and that although 
no signs or air-bubbles reach the surface. 
The target presented by a hippo when resting at the 
surface is extremely small. There are his nostrils, repre¬ 
sented by the size of a man s hand held flat; a foot or 
two behind these, often separated by water, rises the 
prominent upper portion of the cranium, carrying the 
eyes and little pig-like ears. The total height of this, 
as exposed, is perhaps four inches ; but, to be fatal, the 
bullet must take only the lowest inch. At daybreak on 
