216 
TO LAKE NAIVASHA 
[CH. IX 
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 adroit¬ 
ness, their aim being for two to seize the hind-legs; 
then the third, watching his chance, would get one 
fore-leg, 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 because, a portion 
of the head being all that is usually visible, it is 
exceedingly difficult to say whether the animal seen is 
a bull or a cow. As the time allowed for a shot is very 
short, and any hesitation probably insures the animal’s 
escape, this means that two or three hippo may be 
killed, quite unavoidably, before the right specimen is 
secured. Still, there may be interesting and exciting 
incidents in a hippo hunt. Cuninghame, the two 
Attenboroughs, and I started early in the launch, 
towing the big, clumsy row-boat, with as crew three 
of our porters who could row. We steamed down the 
lake some fifteen miles to a wide bay, indented by 
smaller bays, lagoons, and inlets, all fringed by a broad 
belt of impenetrable papyrus, while the beautiful purple 
lilies, with their leathery, tough stems and broad surface- 
