DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 
#48 
The boatmen were promised a present of beads to induce them to 
approach the fall as close as possible, and they succeeded in bringing 
the canoe to within about three hundred yards of the base, but the 
power of the current and the force of the whirlpools prevented their 
going nearer. A sandbank on their left was literally covered with 
crocodiles, which had no fear of the canoe till it came within twenty 
yards of them, and then they slowly crept into the water, all except 
one—an enormous fellow who lazily lagged behind, and who dropped 
dead immediately as a bullet struck him in the brain. The boatmen 
were alarmed at the unexpected report of the rifle, and sought shelter 
in the body of the canoe, not one of them using a paddle, and nothing 
would induce them to attend to the boat, especially as a second shot 
had been fired as a quietus, and they could not tell how often the 
alarming noise might be repeated. They were therefore at the mercy 
of the powerful stream, and the canoe was whisked round by the 
eddy and carried against a thick bank of high reeds. They had 
scarcely touched it when a tremendous commotion took place in the 
rushes, and in an instant a great bull hippopotamus charged the 
canoe, and with a severe shock striking the bottom he lifted them half 
out of the water. The natives who were in the bottom of the boat 
positively yelled with terror, not knowing whether the shock might 
not in some way be connected with the dreaded report of the rifle. 
A few kicks bestowed by Baker’s angry men upon the recumbent 
boatmen restored them to the perpendicular, and the first thing neces¬ 
sary was to hunt for a lost paddle which was floating down the rapid 
current. The hippopotamus, proud of having disturbed them, raised 
his head to take a last view of his enemy, but sunk too rapidly to 
permit a shot. Crocodile heads of enormous size were to be seen in 
all directions, and it would have been good sport to these monsters if 
the bull hippopotamus had been successful in his attempt to capsize 
the canoe. Baker prevailed upon the boatmen to keep the canoe 
steady while he made a sketch of the Murchison Falls, which being 
completed they drifted rapidly down to the landing-place at the 
deserted fishing-village, and bade adieu to the navigation of the lake 
and river of Central Africa. 
