Hadji Ali and the old hunter returned to camp for
assistance in men and knives, &c.
In a little more than an hour and a half, two
objects like the -hacks of turtles appeared above the
surface : these were the flanks of the two hippos.
A short time afterwards the men arrived, and, regardless
of crocodiles, they swam towards the bodies. One
was towed directly to the shore by the rope attached
to the harpoon, the other was secured by a long
line, and dragged to the bank of clean pebbles. .
I measured the bull that was harpooned; it was fourteen
feet two inches from the upper lip to the extremity
of the tail; the head was three feet one inch from the
front of the ear to the edge of the lip in a straight
line. The harpoon was sticking in the nape of the
neck, having penetrated about two and a half inches
beneath the hide; this is about an inch and three-
quarters thick upon the back of the neck of a bull
hippopotamus. It was a magnificent specimen, with
the largest tusks I have ever seen ; the skull is now
in my hall in England.
Although the hippopotamus is generally harmless,
the solitary old bulls are sometimes extremely
vicious, especially when in the water. I have frequently
known them charge a boat, and I have
myself narrowly escaped being upset in a canoe by
the attack of one of these creatures, without the
slightest provocation. The females are extremely shy
and harmless, and they are most affectionate mothers :
the only instances that I have known of -the female
attacking a man, have been those in which her calf
had been stolen. To the Arabs they are extremely
valuable, yielding, in addition to a large quantity of
excellent flesh, about two hundred pounds of fat,
end a hide that will produce about two hundred
coorbatches, or camel whips. I have never shot these
useful creatures to waste; every morsel of the flesh
has been stored either by the natives or for our own
use; and whenever we have had a good supply of
antelope or giraffe meat, I have avoided firing a shot
at the hippo. Elephant flesh is exceedingly strong
and disagreeable, partaking highly of the peculiar
smell of the animal. We had now a good supply
of meat from the two hippopotami, which delighted
our people. The old Abou Do claimed the bull
that he had harpooned, as his own private property,
and he took the greatest pains in dividing the hide
longitudinally, in strips of the width of three fingers,
which he cut with great dexterity.
Although the hippopotamus is amphibious, he
requires a large and constant supply of air; the
lungs are of enormous size, and he invariably inflates
them before diving. From five to eight
minutes is the time that he usually remains under
water; he then comes to the surface, and expends
the air within his lungs by blowing; he again refills
the lungs almost instantaneously, and if frightened,
he sinks immediately. In places where they
have become extremely shy from being hunted, or
fired at, they seldom expose the head 'above the