at once called their party, who, with two of the
aggageers, Abon Do and Suleiman, were near at hand ;
these men arrived with the long ropes that form a
portion of the outfit for hippo hunting.
The whole party now halted on the edge of the
river, while two men swam across with one end of
the long rope. Upon gaining the opposite bank, I
observed that a second rope was made fast to the
middle of the main line ; thus upon our side we
held the ends of two ropes, while on the opposite
side they had only one; accordingly, the point of
junction of the two ropes in the centre formed an
acute angle. 'The object of this was soon practically
explained. Two men upon our side now each held
a rope, and one of these walked about ten yards
before the other. Upon both sides of the river the
people now advanced, dragging the rope on the surface
of the water until they reached the ambach float
that was swimming to and fro, according to the
movements of the hippopotamus below. By a dexterous
jerk of the main line, the float was now
placed between the two ropes, and it was immediately
secured in the acute angle by bringing together
the ends of these ropes on our side.
The men on the opposite bank now dropped their
line, and our men hauled in upon the ambatch float that
was held fast between the ropes. Thus cleverly made
sure, we quickly brought a strain upon the hippo, and,
although I have had some experience in handling big
fish, I never knew one pull so lustily as the amphibious
animal that we now alternately coaxed and
bullied. He sprang out of the water, gnashed his
huge jaws, snorted with tremendous rage, and lashed
the river into foam; he then dived, and foolishly
approached us beneath the water. We quickly
gathered in the slack line, and took a round turn
upon a large rock, within a few feet of -the river.
The hippo now rose to the surface, about ten yards
from the hunters, and, jumping half out of the water,
he snapped his great jaws together, endeavouring to
catch the rope, but at the same instant two harpoons
were launched into his side. Disdaining retreat, and
maddened with rage, the furious animal charged from
the depths of the river, and, gaining a footing, he
reared his bulky form from the surface, came boldly
upon the sandbank, and attacked the hunters open-
mouthed. He little knew his enemy ; they were not
the men to fear a pair of gaping jaws, armed with a
deadly array of tusks, but half a dozen lances were
hurled at him, some entering his mouth from a
distance of five or six paces, at the same time several
men threw handfuls of sand into his enormous eyes.
This baffled him more than the lances f he crunched
the shafts between his powerful jaws like straws, but
he was beaten by the sand, and, shaking his huge
head, he retreated to the river. During his sally
upon the shore, two of the hunters had secured the
ropes of the harpoons that had been fastened in his
body just before his charge; he was now fixed by
.three of these deadly instruments, but suddenly one