ch. ix] HIPPOPOTAMUS 217 
floating leaves, filled the shallows. At the mouth of 
the main bay we passed a floating island, a mass of 
papyrus perhaps a hundred and fifty acres in extent, 
which had been broken off from the shore somewhere, 
and was floating over the lake as the winds happened to 
drive it. 
In an opening in the dense papyrus masses we left 
the launch moored, and Cuninghame and I started in 
the row-boat to coast the green wall of tall, thick¬ 
growing, feather-topped reeds. Under the bright sun¬ 
shine the shallow flats were alive with bird life. Gulls, 
both the grey-hooded and the black-backed, screamed 
harshly overhead. The chestnut-coloured lily trotters 
tripped daintily over the lily-pads, and when they flew, 
held their long legs straight behind them, so that they 
looked as if they had tails like pheasants. Sacred ibis, 
white, with naked black head and neck, stalked along 
the edge of the water, and on the bent papyrus small 
cormorants and herons perched. Everywhere there 
were coots and ducks, and crested grebes, big and little. 
Huge white pelicans floated on the water. Once we 
saw a string of flamingos fly by, their plumage a 
wonderful red. 
Immediately after leaving the launch we heard a 
hippo, hidden in the green fastness on our right, 
uttering a meditative soliloquy, consisting of a succes¬ 
sion of squealing grunts. Then we turned a point, 
and in a little bay saw six or eight hippo, floating 
with their heads above water. There were two much 
bigger than the others, and Cuninghame, while of 
course unable to be certain, thought these were probably 
males. The smaller ones, including a cow and her calf, 
were not much alarmed, and floated quietly, looking at 
us, as we cautiously paddled and drifted nearer ; but the 
