THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3159, 12 August 1881, Page 4

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

After re-embarking we kept close to the chore with the object of avoiding the hippopotamuses thai, in the daytime frequent the middle of the stream, only rising from time to time to breathe. Whenever the current made it necessary for us to change to the opposite side of the river, I could see that tbo boatmen were all on the gui vive to get across as rapidly as possible, and I soon afterwards learned by experience what good reason they hud to be cautious. We had occasion to steer outwards so as to clear a papyrus island, when all at once the men to bn,ck water, and the one nearest to me whispered the word " ktibu." He was pointing to a spot hardly 200 yards ahead, and on looking 1 saw first one hippopotamus' head and then a second raised above the surface of the stream both puffing out little fountains from their nostrils They quickly disappeared, and the men paddlod on "ently till they were tolerably close to tho°place where the brutes had been seen. Both Blocky and I cocked the guns, and had not long to wait before the heads of two young hippopotamuses emerged from beneath the ■water followed first by the head of a male and then by that of a female. We fired eight shots, of which there was no doubt that two struck the old male behind the ear. The men all maintained that it was mortally wounded and probably such was the case, but although we waited about for nearly an hour, never saw more than the heads of three others again. It was only with reluctance that the men were induced

to be stationary so long ; except they r.re in very small boats and properly armed with assegais they arc .always anxious to give the Lippopotamv.s as wide a berth as they can. Of all tho larr?r mammalia in South Africa, I am disposed to believe that, to an unarmed in sin the hippopotamus is the most dangerous. In its normal state it can never endure the sight of anything to which it is unaccustomed, or which takes it by surprise. Let it come upon a horse, an ox, a porcupine, a log of wood, or even a fluttering garment suddenly crossing its path and it will fly upon any of them with relentless fury, but. let such object bo witli-dmwn betimes from view, and the rute in an instant will forget all about it and go on his way entirely undisturbed, i his peculiarity may, perhaps, be physiologically accounted for by ill' , sincill weight of the brain as contrasted with the ponderous size of the body. Although in some cases it may happen that an unprotected man may elude the attacks of a lion, a buffalo, or a leopard, except that they have been provoked he cannot indulge the hope of escaping the violence of a hippopotamus that has once got him within reach of its power. When out of several hippopotamuses in a river one nas been wounded, the rest are far men wnry in coming to the surface; and shonl i fhe wound have been fatal, the carcase d " ■■ risr f■•>••■■>»< h-mr, j but flrifts down 'lie stream. The Marutso have a very simple i>llf. pf'lVrtiial way of landing their deal b dies ; a grass rope, with a stone attach d i~ thrown sutos-* it. and by this means '■■ >■■ t'.i-ily guided to the shore. Thewh'-le virersMc population is most enthusiastic- in its love of hoppopotamus hunting, and ii is owing to the skill of the Marutso natives in this pursuit, that they have been brought from their homes in the Upper Zambezi and established in villages down here, where they may help to keep the court well supplied, not only with fresh and dried fish, but p'lrtcnlarly with hippopotamus flesh. The boat, that are used as ' mokoro tshi kubu ' (hippopotamus canoes) are of the smallest size, only just large enough for one ; they are difficult to manage, but are very swift ; the weapons employed are long-barbed assegais, of which the shafts are so light that they are not heavier than the ordinary short javelins for military use. While I was in Sesheke I heard of n sad casuality, that had occurred near the town, in the previous year. A Marsupia on his way down the river, saw a hippopotamus nsleop on a sandy bank, and believing that , he might make it an easy -prey, approached ' it very gently and thrust his spear right under the shoulder. The barb, however, glinted off its side, inflicting only a trifling wound. In a second, before the man had time to get away, the infuriated brute was up and after him. In vain he rolled himself over to conceal himself in the gra c s; the beast seemed resolved to trample him to pieces; he held up his right hand as a protection, and it was crushed by the monstrous fangs ; he stretched out his left, and it was amputated by a single bite. He was afterwards found by some fishermen in a most mutilated state, barely able to recount his misfortune before he died. Although I have often tested hippopotamus meat, I cannot say that I like it. The gelatinous skin, when roasted, is considered a delicacy. In its raw state, it makes excellent handles for knives and workmen's tools, as it shrinks as it dries and takes firm hold upon the metal. If a hippopotamus is killed within fifty TTiiles of Se=heke, half of it is always sent to the king, and the breast reserved for the Royal table. —Dr. Emil Holub's Seven Years in South Africa (Sampson, Low, and Co.)