HIPPOPOTAMUS 
197 
bodies out of water to examine the phenomenon. The 
last stage, at this period, they did under water. But day 
by day, since we never molested them, confidence increased 
and soon they all swam boldly by, passing within stone’s- 
thr.ow. 
Half an hour after dark their gruntings and blowings 
had ceased, and the silence of the tropic night was only 
broken by the distant wail of a hyena or, later, by the low 
soughing call of a questing lion. Still there always remain 
in the river a certain number of hippos (for what reason, I 
suggest later), and these one also hears. 
During the last moments at which it was possible to 
see anything at all, I twice at this spot (and several times 
at other points on Nile) observed hippos emerge from the 
cane-fastnesses on the bank and enter the river at the very 
moment when all the rest were just leaving it. At the 
time, these incidents seemed inexplicable. They reversed 
the normal course of daily life and habit; but presently 
I learned that these particular hippos habitually spent the 
whole day ashore (as explained later in this chapter), and 
only came down to the river for a drink, before setting 
forth on their nocturnal foray. 
I slept on deck-—my “stretcher,” with mosquito-curtain 
(for we were here in the Sudd region), set up on the poop. 
Punctually as Abdullah brought my morning tea, the 
returning hippos were more punctual still—and earlier. 
Each morning in the black darkness that precedes the 
dawn the noisy amphibians awoke me as they returned, 
full-fed and exuberant, to the river. Sometimes, when 
there was a waning moon, I could half distinguish their 
dusky forms and the spray as, bellowing and splashing, they 
plunged down their “ meshro ”—or prepared landing-place 
—and forgetful of our presence passed within 20 yards of 
the ship. Even so, they displayed rather curiosity than 
fear. Not all of these hippos, when returning to the river 
at dawn, used the regular meshra , for twice or thrice I 
heard the crunching of canes on the main shore just 
