on my hands and knees, and then fired, but only'hit him in
the side, and he rushed back into the lake.
After having tea with the Hoopers, I went down to : the
lake again, and saw three hippos; I fired two long shots
at one, but missed. It was now getting dark, and just as I
was turning away a young female hippo came straight for
us, and I got a splendid shot at her right between the eyes
with my Martini-Henry. Next morning there was great
rejoicing among the Wanika and Giryama over the dead
hippo. They are very fond of its flesh, and had dragged it
ashore. Mr. Hooper had the body towed by his canoe to
the point below his house, and superintended the cutting up
of the meat for the péople— who took everything away, even
the entrails., Mr. Hooper promised to bury the head and
keep the skull for me until I sent for it, *
I was desirous to examine the Sabaki end of the connection
between the river and the lake, so I made a second
visit to the place, crossing the intervening flat, which lies to
the north; the soil is in most places a tenacious grey to
black clay, but very rich. After the floods this flat land is
cultivated by the Wa-Giryama, and I saw large patches of
Indian corn, beans, sweet potatoes, and tobacco, and passed
a good many newly-burned clearings, ready for the N.E.
rains- of October ánd November. The .grass was fully 7
feet high.
Next day I set off with my two head-men, and Ramazan as
interpreter, to visit two other Giryama villages some distance
off. Passing through fine open flat country, glades and
scattered-bush,-with a fine friable light soil, I came upon
a small Giryama village, and spoke to the head-man, as I had
done in the previous case, and he accompanied us to the
other and larger village further on. On our way I caught
a distant view of the Sabaki and the country near it, covered
with heavy forest. The soil here became moré red-coloured
and porous, and the drainage of the surface soil appeared
remarkably good; the forest becoming thicker as we proceeded,
and the country more broken and hilly. On the way
I noticed a small field of specially fine tobacco; it was
luxuriant in the extreme, and the country about here seemed