e river often loses itself in
lakes and swamps, the hippopotamus, like the crocodile, seldom goes
ashore. Here he lives under lotus plants and papyrus leaves, soft reeds
and all the other juicy vegetation that thrives in water-logged ground.
He dives and rummages for a couple of minutes, stirring up the water far
around. When he has his huge mouth full of stems and leaves, he comes up
to the surface again, and the water streams in cataracts off his rounded
body.

[Illustration: PLATE XXIX. A HIPPOPOTAMUS.]

In districts where he goes on land to graze, he often works great damage
among the corn and green crops, and may even attack the villagers. And
he is not always to be trifled with if a canoe disturbs his repose. The
most dangerous is a mother when her young ones are small. She carries
them on her back as she swims and dives, sometimes to the bottom of the
river. A gun must be heavily loaded if the shot is to have any effect on
such a monster, and penetrate such a cuirass of hide. If the animal
puffs and dives, he is lost to the hunter; but if he raises himself high
out of the water and then falls again with a heavy thud, the wound is
mortal and the hippopotamus sinks to the bottom. After an hour or two
the body rises to the surface again.

Some negro tribes on the White Nile dig pitfalls for hippopotami, and on
the rivers which enter Lake Ngami (see map, p. 262) on its northern
shore the natives hunt for them with harpoons, much in the same way as
whales are killed in the northern and southern oceans. The harpoons have
a sharp barbed blade of iron, and this point is secured by strong string
to a stout shaft of wood, the end of which is attached by a line to a
float. Two canoes are dragged on to a raft of bundles of reed tied
together, and between them the black hunters crouch with harpoons and
light javelins in their hands. When all is ready, the raft is pushed out
into the current and drifts noiselessly down the river. The huge animals
can be heard rolling and splashing in the water in the distance, but
they are still hidden behind a bed of reeds. The raft glides gently past
the point, but the hippopotami suspect no danger. One of them comes up
close beside the raft. The harpooner stands up like a flash of lightning
and drives his sharp weapon with all his strength into the animal's
flank. The wounded hippopotamus dives immediately to the bottom, and the
line runs out. The float follows the hippopotamus wherever h