Those
half-grown were mottled with pink and black in blotches. The adults were
almost invariably all dark, though a few of them retained still a small
pink spot or so-a sort of persistence in mature years of the eternal
boy-, I suppose. All were very sleek and shiny with the wet; and they
had a fashion of suddenly and violently wiggling one or the other or
both of their little ears in ridiculous contrast to the fixed stare of
their bung eyes. Generally they had nothing to say as to the situation,
though occasionally some exasperated old codger would utter a grumbling
bellow.

The ground vegetation for a good quarter mile from the river bank
was entirely destroyed, and the earth beaten and packed hard by these
animals. Landing trails had been made leading out from the water by easy
and regular grades. These trails were about two feet wide and worn a
foot or so deep. They differed from the rhino trails, from which they
could be easily distinguished, in that they showed distinctly two
parallel tracks separated from each other by a slight ridge. In other
words, the hippo waddles. These trails we found as far as four and
five miles inland. They were used, of course, only at night; and led
invariably to lush and heavy feed. While we were encamped there, the
country on our side the river was not used by our particular herd of
hippos. One night, however, we were awakened by a tremendous rending
crash of breaking bushes, followed by an instant's silence and then the
outbreak of a babel of voices. Then we heard a prolonged sw-i-sh-sh-sh,
exactly like the launching of a big boat. A hippo had blundered out the
wrong side the river, and fairly into our camp.

In rivers such as the Tana these great beasts are most extraordinarily
abundant. Directly in front of our camp, for example, were three
separate herds which contained respectively about sixty, forty, and
twenty-five head. Within two miles below camp were three other big pools
each with its population; while a walk of a mile above showed about as
many more. This sort of thing obtained for practically the whole length
of the river-hundreds of miles. Furthermore, every little tributary
stream, no matter how small, provided it can muster a pool or so deep
enough to submerge so large an animal, has its faithful band. I have
known of a hippo quite happily occupying a ditch pool ten feet wide and
fifteen feet long. There was literally not room enough for the beast to
turn around; h