2 4 S 
EAST AFRICA AND ITS BIG GAME. 
drag them to shore on account of the shallows which 
formed the edge of the lake. I was neA r ertheless 
determined to have a good try, on the “nothing 
venture, nothing have ” principle, as at the worst I 
could but fail. Accordingly, as soon as the men 
returned with ten loads of long palm-branches, I set 
to work with them to construct the raft. This was 
effected by placing alternate layers crosswise for the 
foundation, until the bottom, some twenty feet long by 
five wide, was thick enough to support three or four 
men; this being accomplished, we made a sort of bul¬ 
wark all round the sides and ends, to act as a screen 
between us and the hippos. The want of ropes proved 
rather a difficulty, until we found an excellent sub¬ 
stitute in thin strips of raw hide, with which we 
bound the palm-branches firmly together. 
On April 14th we were leaving the camp for Taveta, 
so early in the morning our raft was launched, and 
boarded by myself and two gun-bearers who shared 
my keen desire to secure a hippo. Although the raft 
floated capitally, our progress was naturally slow as 
her ends were square, but the two men were able to 
punt her along, keeping about two hundred yards 
from the shore, the water being nowhere deeper than 
from seven to eight feet. We passed hundreds of 
large alligators, floating on the surface of the lake, 
and just showing a portion of their long heads above 
the water, but as we approached them they sank out 
of sight without making the slightest splash. 
Before long we viewed a small school of hippos, so 
